From Our World to Theirs
by NeverASingleDoubt
Summary: Brianna Harris is just your ordinary girl until she is pulled into the Avatar universe by Avatar Roku to help Aang and the rest of the Gaang. While there, she figures out that she has powers of her own and that she has her own role to play in this new world. But will she survive in this strange place? Canon pairings. DISCONTINUED.
1. The Drama Nerd

**Hey peoples! This is my first story, so I hope you like it! **

_**Diclaimer: **_**I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, no matter how long it's been on my Christmas list. I don't own Wicked or any of the other plays mentioned in this story. *runs off sobbing hysterically***

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**Bri's POV**

"Alright, I'll see you guys later," I told my friends. "Remember to be at the auditorium no later than 6:30."

"Aye aye Captain!" my best friend Alana said, saluting me. "We promise not to let you down!" She elbowed Tyler in the side, making him wince.

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled. "I promise not to pull any pranks during the show this year."

"So why does that mad genius glint in my eye tell me you're thinking differently?" I accused, shaking my finger at him. Tyler just shrugged and smiled innocently at me.

"I'll keep him under control Bri," Jess promised, shooting her twin brother a look. "There won't be any chickens falling from the ceiling this year."

"You guys know that was hilarious, you just don't want to admit it," Tyler smirked. "Are you telling me that you didn't laugh when one landed on Mrs. Densmore's head and she ran around screaming, 'Someone get this disgusting animal out of my curls and off of my head!' " At the end, Tyler mimicked the cruel principal's unnaturally high pitched voice, running around and clutching his head.

"Feel free to drop any chickens on any unsuspecting person's head, but don't do it tonight. And remember to pick me up at 6:00 Alana! Dismissed," I ordered, shooing the group away with my hand. They waved goodbye and set off down the path. I flicked my thick red hair over my shoulder, turned, and walked in the other direction out of the park

I kicked a pebble with my foot and hoisted my backpack farther onto my shoulder as I walked along the river. My thoughts wandered to tonight's plans: the fall school musical.

For as long as I could remember, my whole life has been centered around theater. I loved acting, dancing, and singing with all of my heart and there was nothing more that I wanted to do with the rest of my life. All of my friends were part of the drama program, too and everyone called us "The Drama Nerds." We didn't care though; all we wanted was to act. We were all pretty good at it too and we always got all of the leads in the school plays and musicals. This year I had gotten the "evil" lead: Elphaba, from _Wicked. _I absolutely adored the play and I was super excited to play Elphaba because she is such an amazing character, not afraid to stand up for what she believes in. She inspires me so much, even though she isn't real. Most people think that she's evil, like I did at first, but she proves that people aren't necessarily exactly like the rumors claim.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice that I was already at my house. I walked up the brick steps and pushed open the white front door. "Mom! I'm home!" I shouted, slamming the door shut behind me. Not hearing a response, I kicked my worn Converse Hi-Tops off and walked down the hallway to the kitchen.

Our house was a simple two-story, 4 bed, and 3 bath house in Charleston, North Carolina. Born and raised there, I loved everything about my hometown. It's very historical with lots of plantations and gorgeous beaches. It wasn't quiet, but it wasn't big-city obnoxious, like New York or Chicago. Not that I have anything against big cities, they just seem too crowded. It's probably my "small town thinking," but hey, it's my opinion.

Anyway, back to my house. When you walk in our front door, you have two options: go up the stairs to your upper left or walk down the hallway. If you walk down the hallway, there are two doors or a room you can walk into: a bathroom, which is the first door on your right, a closet, which is the first door on the left (underneath the stairs), or the kitchen at the end of the hallway.

As I entered the kitchen, I accidently tripped over our cat, Momo. When I was eight, I went through an _Avatar: The Last Airbender _obsession and that was the year we got Momo. I begged and pleaded with my mom to name the white and brown puffball Momo, and she finally caved after I threatened to not stop screaming until we named him Momo. Five hours later and one very sore throat later, Momo was our new cat. Current day Momo hissed, baring his teeth at me.

"I'm sorry Momo!" I said, crouching down and trying to pet him. He bared his teeth me, daring me to bring my hand closer. "Fine, be that way." I stuck my tongue out at him and he hissed again.

I stood up and looked around our kitchen. It was the usual mess, pots and pans everywhere and what looked like cow brains cooking on the stove. The counter, which was across the room from the hallway, had the dirty placemats still on it from this morning's breakfast and my little brother's many chocolate milk containers scattered all over. To the left of the counter was the stove, microwave, and sink, the sink filled to the brim with dirty dishes.

The living room was located to the right of the counter, again trashed with my little brother's chocolate milk containers. There was a beige couch, neon pink beanbag, three assorted black and white chairs, and a TV on a table shoved against the wall. Windows lined the northern wall of the kitchen and the living room. It was messy, but it was home.

I sighed, dropped my backpack by the counter, and being to clean said counter. I threw all of the empty milk containers into the trash and grabbed a sponge to begin wiping off the placemats. Once I was done with that, I moved on to the sink and began washing the dishes. After that, I threw "dinner" into the garbage and filled a newly cleaned pot with water and set it to boil. While waiting for the water to start boiling, I started to clean up the living room.

I was still working on the living room when I heard loud stomps on the stairs. My little brother, Jeremy, came barreling down the hallway and crashed into me.

"Hey kiddo," I said, hugging him tightly. "How was school?"

"It was good," he replied, grinning toothily at me. Being six, he had begun to lose some of his teeth and currently he was missing five of the little suckers. "But I missed you Bri!"

"I missed you too!" I smiled, and crouched down to fix his usual whirlwind hair. He had gotten his chocolate locks from my mother, but no one in my family had the fiery shade of red that I did. He also inherited the family blue eyes, while I again was different with my sparkling emerald green. I snorted; I wasn't bitter. I loved the way I looked with my 5'8" tall, tan, and skinny frame, but the other girls at school constantly made fun of me for how different I looked from everyone else. I'm sorry, but I draw the line at spray tans and caked on makeup. I do NOT want to look like a orange circus clown, thank you very much.

"Where's mom?" Jeremy asked me, startling me out of my train of thought.

I sighed. "She's probably working," I told him, _as usual. _My heart broke as I watched his young face drop. My mom has four different jobs all over town to help pay the bills. I have jobs of my own to help, but since my dad is out of the picture, we have to get all of the money we can take. Because of the all of the jobs Mom does, we never really see her. I normally do all of the chores around the house and raise Jeffrey, helping him with his homework, cooking his meals, and tucking him in at night. I'm not mad at my mom, I understand why she's never around, but that doesn't mean I don't want her around the house more often.

"Okay Jeremy," I said, standing up. "I have to go get ready for the play. Can you stay down here and do your homework for me?"

"Sure," he said sweetly, grinning his cute little smile at me. "What time are we leaving?"

"6:00," I replied. "Make sure you have all of your homework done by then and you've showered."

"Sure," he said again. He sat at the counter and grabbed his homework from where I had stacked it at the edge.

I walked back down the hallway and went up the stairs. Straight in front of me was my mom's room, to the right was my room, and to the left was Jeffrey's room. I walked into my room and flopped down on the bed, groaning. Another stressful, aggravating day at Mason High School had left me drained. Mimi, the resident stuck up brat, had been especially mean to me today. She had seen me working at Aunty Jill's Diner over the weekend and had been teasing me relentlessly about it all week.

I sat up and surveyed my rainbow colored room. My white bedspread, which I had splatter painted blue, green, pink, and yellow, was buried underneath a huge mound of pillows, which were every single color you could think of. Posters of different plays, like_ Grease, West Side Story, Wicked, _and others covered the sunset painted walls. My closet was smushed in the right corner, and the bathroom was off to the left when you first walked in. I had a neon purple desk right next to my bed, with barely enough room for a yellow chair. I didn't really have a theme for my room, just that it had to be as random and weird as possible. It made me feel unique and… me.

Two and a half hours later, I had all of my homework done and it was time to go. I walked out of my room and down the stairs. I heard a car horn honk in the driveway, and shouted to Jeremy, "Alana's mom is here! Let's go!"

"Coming!" he shouted back, and met me at the front door.

"Then let's go," I replied, swinging the door open and going down the brick steps, Jeremy at my heels.

"Hi Mrs. Roberts!" I told her cheerfully as I opened the door to her Navigator. Jeremy crawled into the back while I sat with Alana in the middle row. "How are you doing? Is your knee feeling any better since the surgery?"

"Brianna Isabelle Harris! You've grown so much since the last time I saw you!" Mrs. Roberts chuckled. "How could you possibly grow so much in a week? It's unheard of! My knee has been feeling great ever since the surgery, thanks for asking."

"I'm glad," I smiled at her. Mrs. Roberts had had knee problems for a few years now and was constantly getting treatments and surgeries.

"Well," Alana interrupted. "I hate to interrupt this bonding moment, but we have to leave for the play now!" Alana was playing the part of Glinda, and was completely obsessed with the pink fluffy dress she got to wear at the beginning and end of the play. It seems fitting that we got the parts of two girls who are best friends.

We pulled up at the school at 6:20 and were the first people there. By the time Alana and I had gotten into our first costumes and I had begun putting on my green "skin," the rest of the cast began to show up. There was Davis, who was playing the Wizard, Sebastian, who was playing Fiyero, Emma, who played Madam Morrible, Cassie, who was playing Nessarose, and others. There was an excited buzz backstage as everyone prepared for the show. This was my favorite part of the performance: when you were getting ready and joking around with your friends.

Finally, at 7:00, the play was ready to start. I bit back my nerves, the curtain rose, and the play began.

Everyone did a spectacular job; it was so amazing to watch them. They were no longer Davis, Sebastian, Emma, Cassie, and Alana, they were the Wizard, Fiyero, Madam Morrible, Nessarose, and Glinda. Finally, the last scene began and I started to say my lines when a horrible screech rang through the auditorium. I bit back a groan. _Tyler better not have caused that noise. There better not be any strange things about to fall on me. _A shout rang through the auditorium, "The lights! They're going to crush her!" I looked up and saw that one of the stage lights was hurtling straight toward me.

* * *

**Aang's POV**

I want to scream, scream so loudly that all of Ba Sing Se could hear me. Appa was still missing and I had no idea who to trust anymore. Joo Dee was bizarre, Long Feng was evil, we STILL couldn't see the King… I was at my wit's end.

"Ahhh!" I yelled, startling some birds off of the tree next to me. I yelled again and again and again, trying to release some of my anger. I took a calming breath and tried to slow down my labored breathing.

"Maybe some meditating will help me," I thought, sitting down and getting into my meditating pose. I focused all of my energy on talking to Roku.

"Roku, if you can hear me, I need help," I thought desperately. "I don't know how to trust anymore. Please, tell me what to do." Hearing nothing, I sighed in defeat. "Fine, I'll just figure it out myself."

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**Bri's POV**

It all happened so fast. I could hear the screams of everyone around me, telling me to jump out of the way, but it felt like my feet were glued to the ground as I stared up in horror at the falling light. My slightly itchy costume rubbed against my arms, the dingy smell of the auditorium filling my nose. I closed my eyes, waiting for death, when all of the sudden, everything went away, my senses abandoning me. I kept my eyes shut, to scared to see what had happened to me.

_I'm dead. _Those two words zinged through my consciousness and I immediately began to hyperventilate._ What will happen to Jeremy? My mom? What about my dreams, being on Broadway, traveling the world? What kind of cruel world is this when a girl dies at fourteen? _

Suddenly, I regained my senses. I was still wearing my costume, with all of its itchy wonders. I could feel moisture cloaking my skin, making me shiver. The scent of... smoke? What the heck? How could I feel moisture, yet something smells like its burning! Without a second though, I opened my eyes and all I could see was a gray fog. I breathed a sigh of relief. _Nothing burning, thank goodness. _I looked down, and screamed. There wasn't a floor! But somehow, I was standing. Was I... flying?

_Where am I?_ I turned in circles, searching for anything or anyone that could give me a hint at where I was.

As I made my second turn, I focused on a small white blob that my eyes had jumped over the first time I turned. these united my eyes and the blob became the figure of a person in the distance. He/She began to walk (float?) towards me.

"Hello?" I shouted. "Hello? Do you know where I am?"

The person stopped, as if about to answer me. After a few minutes of just watching him/her, I began to get impatient. "Are you going to answer me or not?"

Just as I said that, the person turned on their heel and walked (again, floated?) away, disappearing from my sight.

"Brilliant, Brianna," I muttered to myself. "Absolutely brilliant. Yell at the one person who could tell you where you are and how the heck you got here! You really need to work on your people skills."

I kept talking to myself for a couple more minutes, when all of the sudden I got the feeling that someone was watching me. Slowly, I turned around and nearly jumped out of my skin: an old man was standing right behind me.

I began screaming my head off and started to run in the other direction when he grabbed my shoulder. He had a surprisingly strong grip for an old man. I struggled and kneed him in his soft spot. He grunted, kneeling over and I renewed my efforts to get away.

I figured out how to run in mid air and speed away from the old man. I ran until I had no energy left and looked behind me. The old man was nowhere in sight and I breathed a sigh of relief. I collapsed onto the ground, laid on back, and closed my eyes. It had only been a couple seconds before I got the feeling that someone was watching me again. I cracked my eyes open, and almost had a heart attack: the old man was standing _right in front of me._

I screamed. "Who are you?" I shouted, backing away from him. "What do you want with me?"

"Brianna," the old man said kindly. "I'm not here to hurt you. You actually know me, just not the way that you think…"

"How do you know my name?" I asked, shaking. "What do you mean I know you?"

"Take a closer look," he said. "Think back to your childhood."

I looked closer at the features in my his face and what he was wearing. There was something familiar about him, once I got past my body screaming _Stay away! Stranger danger! Stranger danger!_ His startlingly white hair went past his shoulders, as well as his beard. He had a kind face, with smile lines on his cheeks and around his eyes. He didn't appear to be past his early 70s, but the purple bruises from lack of sleep underneath his eyes made him look much older. He wore all red clothing, and a golden fire… clip? barrette? in his hair.

It was the hair accessory that made it recognize him. "You're Avatar Roku, from the _Avatar: The Last Airbender _show."

"Very good Brianna," he said, making his smile lines more prominent. "Though just call me Roku. You have been chosen for a special mission in my world. I have saved you from an early death so that you may save countless lives in my world."

"How are you even real?" I asked, disbelief filling my voice. "You're a cartoon character! The world of Avatar isn't even real! How am I supposed to 'save' an imaginary world? I thought that was Aang's job!" I shook my head, getting rid of the ridiculous thought. "No, you big dummy, Aang's not real either, stupid! But how did I get here?" I muttered to myself, ignoring Avatar Roku.

"I've brought you to a sort of In-Between," Roku answered.

"In-Between of what?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me for a second. _Might as well humor my unconscious mind. _I had decided that I was merely unconscious, and that I had been crushed underneath the light, avoiding a narrow death and my insane mind was playing tricks on me.

"In between the Spirit World and your world of course," Avatar Roku replied.

"Of course! How did I not know that?" I said sarcastically.

"Aang is having a rough time right now," Avatar Roku said quietly. "He will need you to guide him."

"And how I am supposed to do that?" I asked snarkily. "I'm not a bender and I don't have any experience with any sort of sword or weapon."

"I am confident that you will find a teacher to train you in a weapon. As for the bending, you will find that you have… unique gifts." Roku clapped his hands. "Now, I believe you have a world to save. I will contact you shortly after you meet up with Aang and the others."

"Wait, how are you going to do that if you aren't real…" I began, but then the world faded to black around me, and the last thing I saw was Roku's smiling face over me.

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**If anyone who read the original version of this, you will have noticed that I combined Chapters 1 and 2 and made a few adjustments to the story. I hope you guys like this version better! Also, I will slowly, but steadily, make revisions to the other chapters in this story as well.**

**Read and Review!**


	2. Jet

**Hey all you FanFiction lovers!**

**Jet is going to be mentioned in the next couple chapters because a) he's training Brianna how to fight b) Brianna helps him meet Katara and the Gaang c) HE'S AWESOME AND I WISH THAT HE WAS STILL ALIVE! But that can't happen because I don't know what to do with him if he stayed alive so… yeah. Also, this is post-brainwashing.**

**Chapter 3!**

_**Disclaimer: **_**I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, or any of its amazingly fantabulous Kataang moments *runs off bawling*.**

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**Jet's POV**

"No!" I screamed, sitting up in bed. Sweat was pouring down my face in little rivers and my sheets were soaked. I flopped down on my bed, trying to remember what I was dreaming about. Something to do with a lake…

"Oh well," I muttered after a few minutes of failed remembrance. "It was just a bad dream." I stood up, stretched, and got ready to face the day.

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**Bri's POV**

I could hear people's voices, all around me. I smelled damp earth, taking in the fresh, but also dirty, distinct tang. I was lying on something hard… the ground maybe? That would explain the earthy smell.

I snapped my eyes open, my head protesting as it swum with dizziness. I sat up, and the world spun around me. I couldn't see clearly, and I had no idea where I was. After a few minutes, my vision cleared, my head stopped throbbing, and I could feel my body again. I looked around, but I didn't recognize where I was. Everyone seemed to be wearing some shade of green and there was merchants everywhere, selling fruits, vegetables, silverware, and… swords?

I glanced down at my clothes and had to do a double take. What on earth was I wearing? I was wearing what seemed to be a sort of tan tunic with a dark green belt and a green outline. I was wearing brown sandals, and a pink and green flower clip flashed in my hair.

"How on earth did I get into this?" I asked myself, trying to remember anything at all. Suddenly, I remembered the stage light falling and my conversation with Avatar Roku. "I'm in the Avatar universe!" I realized. Then it hit really me. _I'm in the Avatar universe. That means that my conversation with Roku wasn't in my head. This is all actually happening. _I had a sudden realization. "Then this must be Ba Sing Se! I remember it from the TV shows!" I began to look more closely and, sure enough, I now recognized the marketplace where I was. _D__ang, I cant believe that I remember this from six years ago! _I stood up, and began to make a plan.

"Ok," I mumbled to myself, still standing in the same place. "I need to find Aang and tell him that Avatar Roku sent me. Then, I need to get trained in a weapon and find these 'powers' Avatar Roku says I have. Should be easy enough right?" I snorted. "Yeah Bri, go up to the most powerful bender in the universe and tell him, 'Roku sent me to help you! Now let's go find out about the so called powers I have and get cracking on you defeating the Fire Lord! Did I also mention that I'm from an entirely different world?' I'm sure he'll believe me." I stared at the ground, trying to hold back tears. _This is hopeless. What am I going to do?_

Suddenly, I could hear screaming all around me. I turned, and saw a huge carriage about to run me over. I stared in horror at the carriage. _Even in cartoon worlds I'm supposed to die. Go figure.__  
_

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**Jet's POV  
**

After I finished getting dressed, I headed down to the market to get some breakfast. I began to think about my dream again. All I could remember was that lake…

"Maybe Smellerbee or Longshot will know," I thought, but then stopped cold. "Oh yeah, they aren't here anymore." The thought hit me like a punch to the gut. "I wonder where they are now…" After the gang had left Ba Sing Se to go fight the Fire Nation, leaving me here alone, I tried my best not to think about them that much, so that the pain would go away. It did, however, make me realize that my decision to stay and start a new life was the right choice; they were probably never going to have a real life. What would they do when they were older? They couldn't hide in the trees and attack the Fire Nation forever.

As I was mulling this over, I wandered over to a food stand, bought some leechee nuts, and began to eat my breakfast. I was still lost in my thoughts when I heard the merchant begin to yell and point towards the road.

I turned, and saw a girl who seemed to be about 16 years old. She looked terrified and as I looked past her, I could see why: a huge carriage, one of the Upper Ring's, was about to run her over!

Not thinking, I dove out, grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her over to the other side. My leechee nuts went everywhere, digging into my back as we rolled on the ground. The driver cursed at us, yelling things about stupid kids. Laughing to myself, I checked on the girl I had saved. She turned her face towards me, and I realized that she was like no other girl I'd ever seen. What seemed to be shockingly redhair and startlingly green eyes started up at me, her straight teeth smiling at me in gratitude. From what I could tell, she seemed to be about 5'8", though it was hard to tell because she was lying on the ground.

"Thanks for saving me," she said shyly, looking up at me through her eyelashes. "I would've gotten run over for sure if you hadn't been there."

"No problem," I said, flashing her a smile. "My pleasure."

She smiled at me again, but then it faded as she took in my face. I reached up to rub my cheek. _Was there something on my face?_

"You're Jet," she stammered, looking shocked.

"Yeah…" I said slowly. "How'd you know that?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she replied, looking away. Her whole face changed, and she turned toward me with a grin on her face. "Do you think you could train me to fight?"

"I'm sorry, what?" I said, confused. One minute, she's all happy, smiley _thanks for saving my life! You're so awesome!_ Then she was all, _I know who you are but I can't tell you how._ Now, she's Miss _I want you to train me to fight! _Pretty or not, this girl is nuts! _Wait, pretty? Where did that come from? _I shook my head, and tried to focus on what Mystery Girl was saying.

"Please!" she pleaded, clasping her hands together in a begging motion. "I really need to learn."

"Okay," I replied. "What the heck, right? What could go wrong?"

"Really?" She asked disbelivingly.

"No," I said and got up off of her. "I just met you. Why would I teach you to fight?"

"I can't tell you," she replied, biting her lip nervously, her eyes focused on the ground. I stared at her lip, fascinated. _That's hot. _She swung headers back towards mine, a sort of desperstion filling them. "Please, I have to learn how to fight and you're really good! I please don't make me go up to some stranger and ask them to teach me!"

"I'm a stranger," I pointed a finger at myself.

"No," she said softly. "You're not." Her emerald eyes turned their gaze on me and I was suddenly very uncomfortable.

"Fine," I muttered. "I'll teach you."

"Really?" A dazzling grin broke out on her face. _Wow, she definetely has mood swings._ "Thank you so much!" She leaned over and hugged me, squeezing me to the point that I couldn't breathe.

"Crushing... me..." I managed to get out. Mystery Girl took a step back, embarrassed.

"Sorry about that," she said apologetically, tucking a section of her behind her ear as her face flamed a bright red.. "My friends call me 'The Bone Crusher' for a reason, as you can see."

"You never did tell me your name," I told her. "Or should I just call you 'Crsuher?'" her face blushed every more, if that was possible.

"My name's Brianna, but you can just call me Bri."_  
_

"I've never heard that name before," I asked, puzzled. "Are you from another town?"

"Try another country," she said seriously. "I'll explain as much as I can later. But can you promise me one thing?"

"What?" I asked suspiciously. _She sure does ask a lot from people._

"I need you to get me to talk to Aang," she replied, her voice still deadly serious. "As soon as we're done training."

"Get you to see the Avatar?" I shook my head. This girl was too much! "We aren't exactly best friends…"

"I know, I know," she said, waving her hand. "Ever since the incident with Katara and that village he's never trusted you again."

"How do you know about that?" I backed her up into one of the stall doors, my face barely an inch from hers.

"Um," she mumbled. "News travels fast?"

"Try again," I said, my tone menacing,

It was as if her whole demeanor changed. "Look, I told you I'd explain later so get out of my face, ok? Teach me to fight and take me to Aang, then I'll be out of your hair forever. Deal?" She stuck her chin out, daring me to challenge her.

A moment of silence. "If you know about what happened," I said, backing away from her. "Then you know I can't take you to Aang."

"I can talk to him," she replied. "All you have to do is take me to him. So do we have a deal or not?" She stuck her hand out, waiting for me to shake it.

I glared at it. "What's in it for me?" I asked, suspicious.

"You get to see Katara again," she smiled again, though this time it was sadder. "Without me, she'll never talk to you."

_ Katara. _How could I still like her? I thought that I'd moved on, but once I heard her name, my heart lurched. I realized that I missed her kindness, her compassion, and her determination. I'd even kept the hat she'd made me, no matter how ugly it was; she'd put time and effort into it and I couldn't bear to throw it away.

"Fine," I grumbled, shaking her outstretched hand. Her ever present smile returned, and she let go.

"All right then," she said happily, "When do we start?"

* * *

**Bri's POV**

"Are we done yet?" I asked, leaning over, gasping for breath. "If we keep doing this, I won't be able to move again for the rest of my life."

"You're the one who wanted to learn how to fight," Jet reminded me. "Now get up and try again."

I groaned and straightened up, my back protesting all the while. It had only been a week of Jet's "training" (read torture) and I still couldn't fight very well. While I had improved drastically, I just couldn't get the grip right.

"Here, let me help." Jet moved behind me and helped me adjust my grip. He slid his hands down my arm and grasped my wrists gently, positioning them in the proper grip. I blushed furiously, hoping that he didn't notice. He was always so nice and never got angry at me. He had an incredible laugh and could always make me smile. It didn't help that he was really cute… _Bad Bri! He's from a cartoon! No cartoon crushers! Bad girl! Bad girl!_ I mentally slapped myself, but then went back to daydreaming about Jet. _Man, he's hot shirtless..._

And was he ever. His muscular arms and chest were enough to make any girl with sense drool, and when he stretched, his muscles rippling, on Lord...

"Ok, try again," Jet said patiently, startling me out of my thoughts. "Start whenever you're ready."

I lunged as soon as he was done talking, but Jet easily dodged my sword. I hastily turned, but Jet disabled me, not even breaking a sweat. My sword dropped with a thud to the dusty ground a few feet away.

"Try not to make your moves so predictable," he advised me. "Do something your opponent wouldn't expect. Use your environment to your advantage."

_What would Jet not expect? Use you environment, hmmm_… I walked over to my sword, dusting it off as I picked it up off of the ground. I looked around the patch of earth we were practicing on. Kids normally used it to play soccer on, but Jet convinced them to let us use it for as long as we needed it (read paid). _Dang, he must be really desperate to see Katara._ It made me jealous for some reason, but I decided not to over analyze it. I spotted a soccer ball in the corner and smiled to myself. I was always a horrible soccer player, but maybe I could use it somehow…

I ran over to it. Kicking it towards Jet, whose back was turned, I yelled, "Heads up Jet!"

He turned around in surprise, only to see a soccer ball speeding towards his face. _Thank God it went in the right direction. Maybe there was some hope for me after all._ He hit it out of the way, right before it smashed his face. Just as he as doing that, I charged him. This time, I was doing the disarming and before Jet could even react, my sword was pressed against his throat.

"Not bad Bri," he said, smiling. "Good job using your environment. Now, can you do it again?"

I gulped. "Maybe?" Jet attacked, and we spared until the sun went down and the stars were sparkling high in the sky above us. We were both sweating by the time Jet called it quits and suggested we both go get dinner.

"Yes please!" I said enthusiastically, poking my growling stomach through my clothes. Jet laughed, and together we picked up our weapons and headed off to feed our complaining stomachs.

* * *

**Jet's POV**

I stared across the table at Bri, watching her wolf down her dinner. She'd really progressed in the week I'd been teaching her and she had a lot of potential. I just wish that she'd trust me a little more; she'd never even told me where she came from, what her family was like, nothing. I thought that we had grown closer, but she still didn't let me in.

Bri looked up, blushing when she noticed my staring. _She's so pretty when she blushes... Woah, where did that come from?_ "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I've always had horrible eating habits." She sat up straighter, put her napkin in her lap, and began to daintily eat her chicken with her chopsticks. She picked up a glass of water and began to drink, her pinky sticking out.

I snorted, and began to laugh. "No, that's not why I was staring," I assured her. But then a smirk crept its way onto my face. "But I have to say, I've seen Wolf Bats eat with more manners than that."

"Shut up!" Bri said laughing and punched my arm. She laughed so hard that when she went to take another sip of water, it sprayed out of her nose. She gasped, mortified, but it just made me laugh harder. A couple of people at the tables next to us began to stare, but we didn't care.

"I'd like to see you eat like a lady," she said, daring me. "Or better yet, a boy, like you really are."

"I am a man, thank you very much," I shot back. "And men never eat with their backs straightened and pinkies out when they drink. We eat slouched over and hands clenched tight around our glasses."

"Really?" Bri said, teasing me. "Maybe we out to switch tonight then. You be the lady you really are inside and I'll bring out my inner slob."

"Deal," I replied, grinning. "Be prepared to lose." We shook on it across the table, and as soon as I let go, Bri immediately slouched in her chair and began to shovel food into her mouth, slurping her noodles as she swallowed.

_She's good, _I thought to myself. _But now it's my turn. _I sat up straight in my chair, stuck my nose up and began to eat with my chopsticks, only eating one tiny piece of food at a time. After each bite, I would set my chopsticks down and set my hands in my lap as I daintily chewed each bite. My stomach growled angrily, screaming, "Give me food! Give me food!"

I muttered at it under my breath saying, "This is a matter of pride. Now shut up and you'll get your food." It grumbled back at me, but its complaining became quieter.

"Are you talking to your stomach?" Bri asked me incredulously, showing me her mouth full of food.

"No," I replied snottily. "I was merely adjusting the napkin in my lap. You should really do the same. You wouldn't want food dropping in your lap now would you?"

"No," she agreed. "I wouldn't. Thank you for the suggestion." She grabbed her napkin and tucked it into her shirt. She then purposely made food spill on it, saying, "Oh look! You saved my best shirt! How can I ever repay you?"

"I'll think of something," I said smiling, which only grew wider when I noticed her blushing. _Does she like me? YES!_

As dinner went on, our antics only got worse. By the end of the meal, Bri had food spilled all over her and the tablecloth and I had only managed to eat half of my food. We had been kicked out of the restaurant for bad behavior and were told to never come back as long as, "The lady acts like an unmannered beast who bothers the other customers."

"Did you see the look on that guy's face when you starting drooling on his dinner?" I said, cracking up. "He looked like the world had just ended!"

"Yeah," Bri said, laughing. "Or that lady when you asked her why her pinky wasn't up and starting lecturing her on the proper way to hold her cup? Classic!" She doubled over, unable to sand it anymore, and plopped down on a bench. I sat next to her and we laughed our heads off for another good five minutes. I looked around to see where we were, and noticed that we were in front of a large fountain. Lanterns decorated the water, and others were lit around us. (This is right after Zuko had his date.)

"Wow," she said, awestruck. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah," I said, glancing at her. "It is."

She looked over at me, caught me staring, and blushed furiously. _I love it when she blushes. _She looked away, her face multiple shades of red. I gently grabbed her chin and turned her face back so that she was facing me again. i stared at her, her green eyes meeting my brown ones, and I slowly moved my hand from her chin and to behind her neck. I pulled her towards me and our lips were just about to touch when my eyes slowly closed...

"Hey!" a voice startled us. We jumped away from each other, with me nearly falling off of the bench. "What do you punk kids think you're doing?" I looked up and saw an angry old man, hands on his hips, glaring at us.

"Run!" I gasped, pulling Bri after me. "Hurry!"

She stumbled, but was soon keeping stride with me. We raced through the maze of shops and stalls with the old man chasing us, slowly gaining speed. _How the heck can an old man run so fast? _I spotted a narrow alley to our right. "This way!"

I ducked into the alley, pulling Bri with me. The old man raced by us, swearing under his breath about stupid teenagers, how he's too old to be doing this, etc and raced around the corner, believing that he was still chasing us.

"We're safe," Bri sighed. "I never knew I could be scared of someone so old."

"Yeah," I said laughing. "He must have been a running star when he was younger. I couldn't believe how fast he was going!"

"I know!" Bri said, laughing with me. "I was so sure he was going to catch us!"

We both kept laughing for a couple more seconds, but then I realized just how narrow this alley was. We were separated by only a centimeter of air, and her eyes were almost level with mine. Bri, who seemed to realize our… situation when I did, blushed.

"You're so pretty when you blush," I murmured, not expecting her to hear me.

"Thanks," she replied, blushing some more.

"You heard that?" I asked, embarrassed. I looked away… err, as much as I could anyway, avoiding her eyes.

"Yeah, I did." I turned towards her, surprised. Her voice had taken on a determined tone, and her face said the same thing: I'm going to do whatever I want and no one can stop me.

Before I realized what was happening, she had reached up, wrapped her arms around my neck, and kissed me.

* * *

**And that's Chapter 2! It has been revised, so people who read the original, tell me what you think! And yes, I did combine Chapters 3 and 4 to make this new Chapter 2. I'm trying to make my chapters longer and they will get longer as I continue revising and publishing, promise.**

**Read and Review!**

**P.S. Thanks so much for reading my story, it means a lot! Though so would more comments... kidding! Maybe... :p**


	3. The Gaang!

**Happy Easter everyone! Er... two days after Easter. I hope you guys are having a good holiday!**

**I changed slightly the dialogue in the scene where Jet sees Katara again, but it's still similar, so yeah.**

**Also, short lemon at the end of this chapter. Yay!**

_****__**Disclaimer:**_ **Apparently dreams don't come true, because if they did I would Avatar: The Last Airbender. But they don't, so I don't own anything. *sigh* Stupid lying Disney...**

* * *

**Bri's POV**

"You're so pretty when you blush," Jet murmured, though I don't think he meant for me to hear him.

"Thanks," I replied, blushing some more. _Stupid face! Stop it!_

"You heard that?" he asked, embarrassed and looked away… err, as much as he could anyway, avoiding my eyes.

"Yeah, I did." I stared at him, drilling a hole into his forehead. I really like him and I knew exactly what I should do.

Before he realized what was happening, I had reached up, wrapped my arms around his neck, and kissed him.

Holy cow, he was an amazing kisser! I had never kissed anyone else, but when our lips connected, I knew exactly what to do. I was worried that he wouldn't kiss me back, pull away, but he didn't and it felt incredible. A feeling of joy welled up in my chest and I smiled against his mouth.

It seemed to go on forever, but eventually I pulled away, smiling at Jet. He chuckled, and ran his hands through my hair.

"You're a really good kisser," he said, his voice unsteady.

"Really?" I asked. "That's weird."

"Why?" He looked confused.

"I've never kissed anyone before," I gazed down at my shoes, embarrassed.

"I was your first kiss?" Jet's voice had taken on a weird tone. I looked up, and he had a happy expression on his face.

"Yeah," I whispered. "You were."

"Good," he said, satisfied as he went to kiss me again.

* * *

**Jet's POV**

We walked back to my apartment, holding hands the whole way. I couldn't believe she liked me! I was practically skipping with happiness and out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Bri hadn't stopped smiling.

The rest of the night passed in blissful happiness, each of us content with just being in each other's company. When we went to sleep, we curled up together and fell asleep to the sound of the other's breathing.

* * *

**Bri's POV  
**

I was back in Avatar Roku's mist world. I could see him, standing at a distance, staring at me.

"Roku!" I called. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

He materialized in front of me, smiling. "Hello Bri. I see that you've managed to pick up fighting quite well. You are ready for your gifts."

"Gifts? What…" I asked, but Roku was already reaching his hand toward me. He stuck out his pointer finger and touched me lightly on the forehead. Immediately, my head exploded in pain.

* * *

I woke up, gasping for breath, my body sweating. I sat up and rubbed my head. _It was just a dream. _I looked over, and saw Jet sleeping next to me, his face relaxed… and surrounded by a white glow?

Frowning, I pulled the covers down and saw that the rest of his body was surrounded by the glow as well. I thought back to what Roku told me, "You are ready for you gifts." Is this glow what he meant?

Just as I thought that, Jet woke up. He blinked his eyes, and then stared up at me. "Morning."

"Morning," I replied, leaning over and kissing him on the mouth. He tensed surprised, but then began to kiss me back. He pulled me to him, and I giggled as he flipped me over so that he was on top of me. He began to kiss me all over my face: my cheeks, forehead, chin, but always returning to my lips. I giggled again, and he stopped kissing me.

"Were you always a giggler or did I just never notice?" He teased me. I stared up at him, about to answer, but then I noticed the glow around him had changed to a light pink color. A voice in my mind whispered, _He's going to kiss you again._ Just as it said that, Jet did exactly that. To shocked to kiss him back, I laid stiffly on the bed. But after a couple of seconds, I completely forgot about the mysterious voice and kissed him back passionately.

* * *

**Third Person POV**

Sokka and Toph were lying down on the floor of their house when Katara and Aang came bursting in. Sokka, who was working on Appa posters, stuck out his tongue in concentration.

"We found a printer to make our posters!" Katara said happily, brandishing the posters for Sokka and Toph… err Sokka… to see. Aang smiled and nodded, obviously pleased with the result.

"Hey," Sokka said indignantly. "I thought designing the lost Appa poster was my job. I've been working all day on my Appa." He showed the pair his Appa drawing, glowing with pride.

Katara smothered a laugh, while Aang, confused, said, "Sokka, the arrow is on Appa's head."

"This is his head," Sokka replied, beginning to feel put down.

"Why are feet coming out of it?" Katara asked, confused as well.

"Those are his horns!" Sokka said angrily. "I haven't seen him in a while, ok?"

"It looks just like him to me," Toph said, smiling.

"Thank you," Sokka replied. "I worked really…" He looked at her. "Why do you feel the need to do that?"

"Let's just stick with the professional version," Katara said, the voice of reason. In response, Sokka angrily tore up his beautiful Appa drawings, while Aang held up sacks of the posters and said, "Come on! Let's get busy!"

* * *

**Jet's POV**

"Ok," I said, tearing the list in my hand in half. Giving one half to Bri, I said, "We need groceries. You get all of the items on this half and I'll get the other. Whoever gets all of their items and gets back here first, wins."

"You're on," Bri retorted. She raced away, leaving me staring after her. _She's fast._

Not wanting to waste any time, I ran as fast as I could around the market, gathering all of the groceries on my side of the list. As I was sprinting back, I noticed a familiar girl in a blue dress putting up posters…

"Katara," I breathed, immediately stopping. I stared at her, not believing what I was seeing. After all this time, she still looked the same, her chocolate brown hair pinned up with those hair loopies, and she still had her water skin around her waist, but now there was a sadness about her that I could sense, even with the two hundred or so feet separating us. She had been through a lot since the last time I had seen her.

I saw Katara flinch, as if she'd heard me. She turned around gasping when she saw me. I looked over her shoulder and saw that she was putting up a lost Appa poster. _I wonder what happened to Appa._ Just as I was thinking that, Katara's face turned red with anger and she waterbended a huge wave at me.

"Katara I've changed!" I shouted, the water slamming me in the chest. I was swept into an alley, and Katara followed me.

"Tell it to some other girl Jet," she said angrily. She waterbended icicles at me, and I just barely dodged them. Panting, I glanced behind her, where I could see someone moving in the shadows. _Who on earth… _I didn't even finish the thought before Katara's ice shards caught me and I was pinned against a wall.

Suddenly, a shape burst out from behind one of the stalls, sword gleaming the sunlight. He/She began to attack Katara, who began to defend herself against the unknown opponent. I spotted a lock of red hair. "Bri!"

Bri looked up, startled, and Katara saw this as her chance. She water whipped Bri in the face, knocking her to the ground. Bri's head hit the stone with a THUMP and her eyes fluttered closed, little rivers of blood flowing out from her head.

"Bri!" I yelled, distressed. I began to tug at the shards, but to no avail. "Come on Bri, get up!"

Katara stood over her, checking to see if she was unconscious. Bri's eyes snapped open, and she used her feet to kick Katara's ankles to knock her over. _Thank God she's alright._ Bri jumped to her feet, her sword point against Katara's throat.

"Not one move," Bri said, glaring at Katara. Katara glared right back, angry at being beaten.

"Why are you defending him?" Katara asked, her eyes murderous. "Don't you know what he's done?"

"Yes," Bri replied. "I do." Katara looked shocked. "I know everything, but that was in the past, and he's a better person know. People may have done horrible things in the past, but that doesn't mean that they are horrible people now."

"Yes it does!" Katara shouted. She began to cry. "He tried to kill a whole village of people!" I looked down, too ashamed to look at either of their faces.

"And broke your heart," Bri said quietly. I looked up, unbelieving. But when I saw Katara's face, I knew that was why she was upset. "You trusted him, and he left you. But he's a better person now and if you'd just give him a chance I'm sure you'd see that."

"Who are you?" Katara asked, furious. "You do you think you are, telling me what I feel or don't feel?"

Bri sighed. "If you promise not to attack me, I'll lower the sword and answer any questions you have. I'm not a bad person and I think that this could be handled better if we had a conversation like normal people."

"Alright," Katara said warily. Bri lowered her sword, and held out her arm. Katara grabbed it, and Bri pulled her into a standing position.

"My name is Brianna Harris," Bri told her. "I'm a friend of Jet's." That hurt. I thought we would've been more than friends by now. _Maybe she doesn't want to be my girlfriend. Maybe all she wants is someone to make out with._

Bri, still talking to Katara, was oblivious to my inner panic attack. I wasn't really listening until I heard her say, "Can you please let Jet go? I don't want him to be stuck to a wall until that ice melts."

I felt the ice shards melt around me, and I stretched, trying to get some feeling back into my legs. I walked over to them.

"One last question," Katara turned to Bri. "How did you meet Jet?"

"Well," Bri said blushing. "He saved me from getting run over by a carriage."

"Wow," Katara said snarkily to me. "Saving lives instead of killing them. You really have changed." With one look from Bri however, she immediately apologized. "Sorry."

"It's ok," I shrugged, but still angry inside. _Did she really think that low of me? You know what, why should I even care? I like Bri now. But does she like me?_

"What were you doing in the middle of the street anyway?" I asked Bri, curious. She never did tell me why, even though I had asked her multiple times.

"It's a long story," Bri sighed. "I might as well tell you, and Katara, you might realize that I don't want to hurt you if I tell you. So, let's get started!"

* * *

**Bri's POV**

"I should start off by saying that I'm not from here," I began, but then I was interrupted by Katara. "Do you mean like another town?"

"No," I sighed. "I mean I'm from another world." Jet and Katara both gave me incredulous looks. "I'm serious! I was sent from my world to yours by Roku to help Aang fulfill his destiny."

"Yeah right," Katara snorted. "Why would Avatar Roku send you? No offense."

"None taken," I said, but it really hurt. _Maybe I'm really not good enough. _Pushing that thought aside, I continued. "I don't know either, but Roku chose me for a reason. Anyway, Roku saved my life and explained that I would be coming here to help Aang. There is a TV show about you guys so I knew who you were…"

"What's a TV show?" Jet interrupted.

"Oh shoot, I forgot you guys don't have TV here," I bit my lip. "Think of it as moving pictures inside a box."

"Oh, ok," Jet said, but he still looked confused.

"Wait," Katara said. "Does that mean you know everything about us? What's my favorite fruit? When was I born? How many strands of hair are on my head?"

"No, it doesn't mean I know everything about you!" I shouted, exasperated. "The show just told me about your life after you found Aang! I know about the fire nation ship, the first time you saw Aang waterbend, Yue's death, the swamp where you saw you mother..."

"Ok, I believe you," Katara said, her voice growing quiter all of the sudden. She became surrounded by a dark blue and I felt guilty._ Stupid! Why did you mention the swamp? _"Keep going."

"Thank you," I said, still feeling guilty. "Anyway, I watched the show about you when I was younger but at first I didn't believe Roku; I thought it was just a strange dream. Roku told me that I needed to find Aang and help him, learn how to fight, and figure out my gifts, whatever that means. Then I woke up in the middle of a street in the market. I was still figuring out what was going on when a carriage came out of nowhere and I was about to be run over when Jet pushed me out of the way. We struck a deal and he's been training me to fight."

"He did a good job," Katara muttered, rubbing her neck.

"Yeah," I said happily. "He did." I smiled at Jet, and he smiled back. "Anyway, that's where we are up to the present."

"What did you mean by powers?" Jet asked me. "I haven't noticed anything."

"I hadn't either," I told him. "But Roku visited me in a dream and told me that I was ready for my gifts. This morning, when I woke up, every person I have seen has been surrounded by this strange glow and a voice in my head has been telling me what people are about to do. I think my 'gifts' have to do with people's emotions and intents." I turned to Katara. "For example, you are surrounded by a dull red glow with brown accents, which means you're… slightly angry, annoyed, and disbelieving?"

"That must have been so hard to figure out," Katara said sarcastically.

"Ok then," I turned to Jet, who was surrounded by a light green glow with pink accents. "Jet is accepting and happy."

"Why would he be happy?" Katara asked me.

"How should I know? Ask him! Just because I can read emotions means I know why that person is feeling like that!" I told her indignantly. Both of us turned to Jet, expecting an answer.

"Well," Jet said awkwardly. "I trust you and it makes sense. As for the happy…" he shrugged. "I guess I just am."

_He's hiding the truth from you, _the voice in my head whispered. I frowned, but didn't call him out on it. He'd tell me when he was ready.

"Well," Katara said. "As much fun as this has been, I need to keep hanging up posters, so if you don't mind…"

"Katara!" a voice shouted from behind us. We turned, and saw Sokka, Aang, and Toph running towards us. "Where have you been? Who are these people… JET?!" Sokka cried angrily. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey guys," Jet said awkwardly. "How are you?"

"HOW ARE WE?" Aang screamed. His glow, what's it called, an aura? flared bright red. _Shoot, he's angry, _I thought. I quickly stepped in between Jet and the angry group of people. "Hi, my name is Brianna, but you can just call me Bri. You must be Aang, Sokka, and Toph! It's so cool to meet you guys!"

"What do you mean?" Aang said suspiciously, glaring at me, his anger turning into suspicion. His aura began to get black streaks in it, showing the suspicion. "Why are you with Jet? Better yet, why are both of you talking to Katara?"

"I mean that I'm supposed to help you," I explained to Aang. "Avatar Roku told me that you needed help so he sent me. He said that you were confused and frustrated and that you needed someone to help you know who to trust." As I was saying this, his face turned pale, all of the blood draining out of it. "How did you know that?"

"I told you," I shrugged my shoulders. "Roku sent me. Anyway, I ran into Jet here and he helped train me to fight." Seeing the look on Aang's face, I said, "I know what he's done in the past, but he's a better person know. I can read emotions and intents and it's true; he's not the same person that tried to drown that village." From out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jet flinch. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. Jet smiled gratefully at me.

"Wait a second," Sokka stared at out intertwined hands. "Are you two a COUPLE?" Katara and Aang gasped, putting their hands over their mouths.

"Yeah," I retorted. "We are." I saw Jet smile next to me. "So what?"

"That means he corrupted you into thinking he's a better person!" Sokka shouted. _He's going to attack Jet, _my voice told me. Sure enough, Sokka pulled out his sword and charged Jet. Quick as a flash, my sword was out and I had disabled Sokka. My sword was pointing at his throat, the trip just poking his neck.

"I really don't want to hurt you," I said, my voice dangerous. "So please try to play nice and we can all get along."

"Alright, fine," Sokka grumbled, eyeing my sword and going cross-eyed in the process. "I'll try my best to not punch his lights out, even if it is what he deserves."

"Wow," Aang said, amazed. "You weren't kidding about being able to know people's intents." Hope filled his eyes. "Maybe you can help us after all."

"That's what I've been saying this whole time!" I sheathed my sword. "We're good people and we don't want to hurt you! Trust us!"

"Tell that to the sword that just tried to take my head off," Sokka grumbled, rubbing her neck.

"I trust them," Aang said, glaring at Sokka.

"Me too," Toph admitted. "Both of them have been telling the truth this whole time."

"You can tell when people are lying?" Katara asked, surprised.

"I can feel people's breathing and heartbeat," Toph said, as if it was obvious. "When people lie, there's a physical reaction. They're telling the truth."

"Fine," Katara grumbled. "We trust you, for now." With that, she turned and walked away in a huff.

"What are you guys doing anyway?" I asked, curious.

"Appa's missing," Aang told me sadly. "We're putting up posters to see if anyone knows where he is."

"Wait," I said. "I remember watching this when I was younger." I rubbed my head, trying to remember. I could feel everyone's eyes on me. My eyes snapped open and I looked at Jet. "I remember you showed them where Appa was. You said that you overheard some people talking…?"

"I did!" Jet said, happy he could help. "They were talking about a warehouse! I can show you where it is!" With that, he ran away, shouting for us to follow.

"Come on Katara!" Aang said, turning to where Katara stood, sulking. "We have to follow him."

"Fine," Katara said. "But that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it." She glared as she walked by me, sticking her nose up.

_I remember her being nicer_. _It's probably just because Jet's here. _Sighing, I ran after her, and tried to ignore the feeling that something was wrong.

"This is the place I heard about," Jet told us, leading us into… an empty warehouse.

* * *

"This place is disgusting!" I said, pinching my nose shut. When I spoke again, my voice came out funny, "Are you sure this is the right place? It's obviously abandoned."

"Yeah, it is," Aang sounded so crushed. I walked over to him and tentatively gave his shoulder a squeeze. He nodded at me, thanking me with his eyes.

"We'll find him Aang, I promise," I vowed. He smiled at me, grateful. But when his eyes went back to the empty warehouse, I could see them dim again. His aura was such a dark blue, rivaling Katara's earlier, that it was obvious how upset he was about Appa.

"If this is a trap," Katara turned on Jet, her voice threatening.

"I told you," Jet said, exasperated. "I work nearby. Two guys were talking about some giant furry creature they had. When Bri mentioned that I knew where he was, I figured that they were talking about Appa."

"He was here!" All of us turned excitedly, seeing Toph clutching a wad of fur in the corner.

Aang raced over to her, grabbing for the fur. "We missed him," Aang said dejectedly. He rubbed the fur, as if it could tell him where his missing friend was.

"They took that big thing yesterday." We all jumped, startled that another person was in here with us. "Shipped him out to some island. 'Bout time, I've been cleaning up fur and various, uh… leavings all day." The person speaking, an old man, shuffled by us, sweeping the floor.

"What island? Where's Appa?" You could practically see Aang's excitement. He raced over to the old man, kicking up dust as he used Airbending to run faster.

"Foreman said some rich royal type on Whaletail Island bought him up, guess for a zoo or such… though it could be the meat would be good." The old man shrugged, then returned to his sweeping.

"We've got to get to Whaletail Island," Aang said desperately. A thought struck him and he looked confused. "Where's Whaletail Island?"

Sokka, who had the map, said despairingly, "Far. Very far." He pointed to the map. "Here it is. It's near the South Pole, all the way back home."

"Aang," Katara said reasonably. "It'll take us weeks to get to the tip of the Earth Kingdom and then we'll need to find a boat to get us to the tip of the island."

"I don't care," Aang replied stubbornly. "We have a chance to find Appa. We have to try."

"Must be nice to visit an island," the old man mumbled from behind us, still sweeping up… leavings. "I haven't had a vacation for years."

"Don't you have some more hair to clean up?" Katara interjected, sticking her hands on her hips.

"Shuffle on, I get ya," the old man said in understanding, a little bit sadly. "No more need for Old Sweepy."

"Wasn't that kind of mean?" I asked her. "He just wanted to talk."

Katara ignored me. "You're right Aang," She said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Right now, our first concern has to be finding Appa. We can come back when we have him."

"Alright, let's get moving." Sokka ordered, and we all exited the warehouse. Jet and Katara accidently bumped shoulders, and Jet smiled hesitatingly at Katara. His aura wasn't pink (love), but more… embarrassed? Reddish pink?

"Humph," Katara said, motioning him forward. I heard Toph ask her, "Was this guy your boyfriend or something?"

"What? No!" I heard Katara say, flustered.

"I can tell you're lying," Toph said evilly. I heard Katara stomp off, and smiled to myself. _I love Toph._

* * *

"We can take the train up to the wall, but then we'll have to walk," Sokka told us.

"Don't worry Sokka," Aang said happily. "On the way back, we'll be flying!" He bounced up and down, excited for it to happen.

"We're finally leaving Ba Sing Se," Toph was also in a good mood. "Worst city ever!" She threw out her hands, embracithe the freedom of leaving.

Two figures walked out from behind one of the stalls. "Jet!"

In front of me, I saw Jet tense in surprise.

"I thought you said you didn't have your gang anymore," Katara said accusingly. _Shut up!_

"I don't!" Jet said, surprised.

"We were so worried," a small girl exclaimed, hugging Jet around the middle. If I remembered correctly, her name was Smellerbee. "How did you get away from the Dai Li?"

"The Dai Li?" Katara asked, horrified.

"I don't know what she's talking about!" Jet exclaimed.

"He got arrested by the Dai Li a couple of weeks ago," Smellerbee explained. "We saw them drag him away." She motioned to... Bongshot? Gongshot? No... Longshot! That's his name!... when she said this.

"Why would I be arrested?" Jet asked, confused. "I've been living peacefully in the city. Bri can vouch for me." I nodded to him, confirming it. But in the back of mind, something was wrong…

"Who are you?" Smellerbee asked suspiciously.

"I'm Jet's girlfriend," I explained. I saw her eyes widen in shock.

"Oh," she mumbled. "Nice to meet you then. I'm Smellerbee."

"Brianna," I stuck my hand out, and we shook. "But you can call me Bri." I shook Longshot's hand too, and he nodded curtly at me. Suddenly, I remembered what had been bothering me. "Jet's been brainwashed!"

Everyone stared at me. "How do you know?" Jet asked me worriedly.

"I remember watching this when I was younger," I told everyone. "The Dai Li hypnotized Jet!"

"Ok," Sokka said. "So how do we unhypnotize him?"

"Katara," I turned to her. As much as I wasn't that fond of her right now, she was the only one who could help. "I need you to use your healing powers on Jet. Please! He needs your help." I did my best puppy dog face, silently begging her.

"Fine," Katara mumbled, and I cheered. "I'll do it."

* * *

**Zuko's POV**

I peeked out from behind a corner, spotting a lone Dai Li agent. I slipped my Blue Spirit mask on, and rushed by him, intentionally bumping him. "Out of my way skinny."

I raced by him, turning a corner, when I heard him growl at me. _Perfect. Just according to plan._

The Dai Li agent chased after me, furious. He followed me around the corner and into the alley. He spotted "me" standing in the center of the alley and shot both of his rock hands at "me", one hitting "my" head and one hitting "my" chest. The dummy pretending to me fell over, now headless and with a huge whole in its chest. The Dai Li agent paused confused. "Huh?"

I snuck up behind him, putting my swords to his throat. "If you don't want to end up like him, you'll do what I say."

* * *

**Bri's POV**

I paced back and forth, wearing a hole in the carpet. It had been about an hour since Katara had locked everyone out of Jet's room and started healing him. Aang, Sokka, Toph, Smellerbee, Longshot and I were in the living room of Jet's apartment. Sokka and Toph were on the couch, arguing, and Aang was sitting on the floor, meditating. Longshot was plucking the string on his bow while Smellerbee talked to him in the corner. _What if something was wrong? What if Jet would be under the Dai Li's spell forever? What if Katara couldn't heal him? _A sudden thought stopped me cold. _I've only known Jet since he's had his mind messed with. What if he doesn't like me anymore once he's healed? _And most important: _Why can't I remember how to heal Jet?_

With that wonderful thought in my head, my pacing only got worse. Aang cracked one eye open. "Everything is going to be okay Bri," he said soothingly. "Katara is very good at what she does. Jet will be better any minute now."

"But what if it's something that Katara can't fix with her healing?" I wrung my hands, my worry only increasing. Aang stood up, walked over to me, and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Everything will be okay." He said it with such confidence and determination that I couldn't help but feel relieved.

"Thanks Aang," I said, hugging him. He was so adorable and kind. _I wish there were more people like him in the real world._

The door to Jet's room opened, and Katara walked out. Behind her I could see Jet sitting in a chair, leaning over with his hands holding his head.

"Is he okay?" I asked Katara nervously. "Did you fix his mind?"

"No," Katara sighed. "Something is preventing me. I thought that maybe you could help me."

"Me?" I asked, surprised. "What could I do to help?"

"Jet is honestly trying, but I think that he needs an emotional memory or feeling to regain his memories." Katara glanced at me. "Since you're his girlfriend, I thought you might be able to do something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, but you'll think of something." Katara pushed me into the room with Jet, and closed and locked the door behind her. "Good luck!"

* * *

**Jet's POV**

"Ugh!" I looked up and saw Bri glaring angrily at the door. I looked away, not wanting her to look at me with disappointment in her sparkling eyes. I had tried, I really did, but nothing seemed to bring my memories back.

I heard her move across the room towards me and her hand grabbed my chin. She lifted my face so that she was looking me straight in the eyes.

"I know you've tried your hardest," Bri began. I wrenched my face out of her grip. "No, you don't."

She stared at me, shocked. I continued, "I've been stuck in here for what feels like forever, trying to reach for something that doesn't seem there. I've had Katara surrounding me with so much water that sometimes it feels like I can't breathe. And all this time, I've been thinking: What if I do remember? What if I find out that I did horrible things to people? I don't want to be a bad person; I don't want to hurt people."

Bri shook her head. "You don't have anything to worry about. You are a good person Jet. Why do you think you came here in the first place? You wanted to start over, become that good person. I don't think you would've hurt any people. Any Smellerbee and Longshot? I don't think they'd let you get away with anything, they care about you too much." She smiled at me. "Plus, I don't think I'd be dating a murderer don't you?"

That made me feel better. _She's right. I don't have anything to worry about. Why am I even worrying about this? I wonder why I was arrested anyway._

"Now for your memories," Bri said, grabbing my chin again. "Katara told me to try something emotional to get your memories back. Maybe I could do something with my powers?"

I had an idea. "Maybe, or maybe not." I leaned up and sealed my lips to hers. I felt her gasp, but she didn't pull away. It felt amazing. No, more than amazing… Utterly mind blowing. My body tingled from my head to my toes. I ran my fingers through her hair and she moaned. Her arms slid down my chest and around my waist, making me shiver. I backed her up until Bri was pressed up against the wall and I lowered my hands out of her hair and cupped her face. _Why hadn't I done this sooner?_ My heart was pounding, and I swear it was about to burst. I'd never felt this way before and it startled me of how much of a reaction I could get from one kiss. I was about to deepen the kiss, when I suddenly remembered:

**Jet's Memory Beginning**

**A/N: Whatever text is [**in the parentheses**], that means it's part of the memory, by the way. Now, continue reading! Go on! *shoos hand***

[I flung the door to the tea shop open, angrily making my way in. "I'm tired of waiting. These two men are firebenders!" I pulled out my swords, crossing them as I did and went into a battle stance. I saw _them_ flinch and share a glance. _They're nervous! Good! They know that they're bound to get arrested, or worse now that everyone knows they're firebenders._

"I know they're firebenders!" I shouted to the people in the shop. "I saw the old man heating his tea." Out of the corner of my eye, I could see two men in uniforms flashing each other baffled looks. One of them spoke up, saying, "He works in a tea shop." He said it slowly, as if I was some stupid child.

"He's a firebender, I'm telling you!" I told him angrily, whipping my swords up.

"Drop your swords boy," he ordered me. "Nice and easy."

I began to walk towards _them. _"You'll have to defend yourself. Then everyone will know. Go ahead! Show them what you can do."

The uniformed man I had been talking to put a hand on his sword, but Zuko pushed past him, pulling out his own swords. "You want a show? I'll give you a show." He kicked a table towards me, but I jumped and used my swords to cut it in half. I leaped over to Zuko, bringing my swords down in a whistling arc. He jumped away, spinning, as he landed on a table. I swung my sword down, cutting the table he was standing on in half and knocked it away. He hopped up, lunging at me, but I deflected his blades with my own. I did a backflip, landing solidly on my feet and I crouched down. I rushed at him again, and he moved his swords to block me. **(A/N: I have to make up the part until he kicks him out the door/window because there's the scene at the party in between… yeah.)** I trapped his blades and kicked him in the stomach. He doubled over, gasping for breath. I kicked him again, and this time the momentum was enough to push him out the door of the shop. I followed him, and brought my swords down, but he blocked me. _Dang, he's some fighter._

"You must be getting tired of swords," I told him mockingly, our faces inches apart. He glared angrily at me, murder in his eyes. "Why don't you go ahead and firebend at me?"

We began fighting again and I could hear the old man shouting at us in the background, "Please son! You're confused! You don't know what you're doing!"

Zuko and I began to move faster, more like a dance than fighting… a really deadly dance. _Too bad for him I'm a good dancer._ I attached my swords together, swinging them as I urged Zuko to firebend, "Bet you wish he'd help you out with a little fireblast right now." I swumg my sword towards his feet, hoping to trip him up, but somehow he managed to pin my swords to the ground with his own sword.

"You're the one who needs help," he replied. I disconnected my sword, both of us now having one each. He charged me, swinging his sword. I ducked, but the clean edge cut off the head of the grain I had sticking out of my mouth. I jumped backwards, landing on a crate in the middle of the square.

"You see?" I shouted to the crowd that had gathered during our fight. The Fire Nation is trying to silence me! It'll never happen!" I hurtled towards him, kicking my foot out to knock him senseless. He blocked me and we continued to fight, lunging, deflecting, and lunging again, until the Dai Li showed up. "Drop your weapons!" I danced out of Zuko's reach.

"They're firebenders! Arrest them!" I told the Dai Li agents, pointing to Zuko and the old man.

"This poor boy is confused," the old man said, shaking his head. I became angry. _Who does he think he is? _"We're just simple refugees."

The owner of the tea shop spoke up. "This young man wrecked my tea shop and assaulted my employees!" _How could he stick up for them?_

The man in the uniform spoke up too. "It's true, sir. We saw the whole thing. This crazy kid attacked the finest tea maker in the city."

"Oh ho ho," the old man said, blushing. "That's very sweet." _It's disgusting._

I felt the Dai Li agents come up behind me.

"Come with us," one of them ordered. Defiant, I swung my sword, but he caught it in his rock fist. _Uh-oh. _He and his partner grabbed my hands and put them behind my back, securing them with rock cuffs.

"You don't understand!" I shouted at them. "They're Fire Nation! You have to believe me!" I struggled the whole way, but I was still dragged into a prison cart. I could see _them _staring at me as I was hauled away and everyone else began to drift away now that the fight was over. I was forced to my knees, and the cart's door was shut, preventing me from seeing anything else. I felt the cart begin to move and I was driven away.

The next thing I knew, I was seeing flashes of images. A serene lake, and then the water rushing past me as I went under. A lamp, with a Dai Li agent saying to me, "Calm down, you're safe now. There's no war in Ba Sing Se. There is no war within the walls. Here we are safe. Here we are free."

**Jet's Memory Ends**

"Woah," I said, pulling away from Bri.

"Woah," she said dreamily. She looked at me happily. "I never knew you could kiss like that."

"I didn't either," I replied smiling. But then my smile faded as I remembered why I had pulled away in the first place.

"What's wrong?" Bri asked, her voice worried. "Oh," she said, realization dawning on her face. "You remembered!"

"Yeah," I said glumly. "I remember."

"Why aren't you excited?" Bri asked curiously. She moved from in front of me to beside me, wrapping her small hand around my large one. I smile gratefully at her. "I was such a jerk. I was angry at this teenager named Zuko and his grandfather because I thought they were firebenders. I attacked Zuko because of some stupid idea I had all because his grandfather had some hot tea!" I buried my head in the crook of her neck, wrapping my arms around her waist. I sighed. "I guess I haven't changed."

I felt her grab my chin, forcing my eyes to meet her determined ones. "Yes you have," she said firmly. "I remember watching the person you used to be and you aren't like him anymore. You've changed, no matter how much you think you haven't. You ARE a good person Jet! But you won't be 100% better until you accept that fact! You can't be a good person if you believe that you're bad! You have to make an effort! Believe in yourself like I believe in you. Alright?" Her gaze searched my eyes, showing that what she said was the truth.

"Wow," I said, impressed. "You should be a motivational speaker when you grow up."

"Shut up," she said, punching my shoulder. It only made me laugh more and after a couple more seconds she joined in the laughter too. The laughter continued for a couple more minutes and when it ended, it grabbed her and hugged her close to me. I breathed in her scent, fresh picked apples, and sighed.

"So, want to kiss again?" I waggled my eyebrows, causing her to laugh some more. Instead of answering, she sealed her lips to mine. _I will never want to stop doing this. _I pulled my arms tighter around her waist, making her moan. I broke my lips away from hers and she protested, but then began to moan again as I trailed my lips down her neck and across her collarbone.

She pulled away. "Wow," she said, her voice breathless. "Did you have a girlfriend before me? Cause you're a REALLY good kisser."

"Not before you," I said, kissing her nose. "You're my one and only." She smiled so wide I thought that her lips were going to split apart. "This is going to be my favorite memory from now on."

"I think I can cause better ones," she said mischievously, sealing the deal with a kiss. My heart began to speed up. _Oh man. _She broke her lips off from mine and locked her gaze on the floor. "I haven't had dated anyone before either." She sounded embarrassed, like it was something to be ashamed of.

"Really?" I asked, surprised. "You sure don't kiss like you've never had a boyfriend before."

"I've been dreaming about my first boyfriend forever!" She said defensively. Her voice then took on a playful tone. "I like having someone as amazing you at my kissing disposal all the time," she said, pressing her lips to mine to prove her point.

I smiled and was about to reply when we heard a knock on the door. "Guys?" Katara asked hesitantly. "How's it going?"

We both blushed and jumped apart. Bri desperately tried to fix her hair and I walked over to open the door.

"Good news!" I said cheerily, blocking Bri from view. "I've got my memory back! Let's go find Appa!"

* * *

**FWI, Katara will get nicer. I just pictured her mean when I was writing this. I don't know why, but oh well!**

**Longest chapter! Woo Hoo!**

**Read and Review!**


	4. Lake Laogai

**Ok guys, I have some bad news… I'm going on a trip to Rome for eight days (Monday to Monday) and since my laptop is broken and I can't haul the huge computer I'm using now across the globe, that means that I won't be able to publish the next chapter until next Tuesday or Wednesday at the earliest. I'm so sorry!**

* * *

**Bri's POV**

I was the happiest I'd ever been in my whole life during that kiss. Figures that Katara would spoil the moment. If my powers are right, Jet doesn't like her or not as much as he did anymore. But she still gets in between us! And she's such a jerk to me! I didn't do anything to her! Besides, she has Aang, or she will have him! She doesn't need to get all up in my business!

_Whatever. Just focus on following Jet. _We had been following him for about an hour now and we were on the outskirts of Ba Sing Se. Jet had mentioned something about a lake and I'd had a bad feeling ever since. I'd been trying to remember why, but no matter how hard I tried, nothing would come to me. _It must not be that important, _I reassured myself, but the bad feeling growing in my chest told me differently.

I was jolted out of my thoughts by Sokka's voice: "So where's this secret headquarters?"

I looked up and gasped: We were in front of a huge lake. _How could I not notice that? _I'd been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I hadn't realized that we'd stopped walking and reached our destination. I immediately felt sick.

"Under the water, I think," Jet said, scratching his head. He sounded unsure, but I knew he was right. The bad feeling in my gut had only grown stronger since I realized where we were.

"There's a tunnel right there near the shore," Toph said, pointing to a spot a couple of yards away. Everyone began to follow her, but I lagged behind.

"Guys," I spoke up quietly. They all turned to look at me and grew concerned when they saw the expression on my face. "Something's wrong."

"Are you okay?" Jet asked coming over and putting his hands on my shoulders.

"No, I'm not," I felt like I was going to throw up at any second. I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering."There's something… wrong about this place. I have this feeling like if we go in there, something bad will happen. But it's more than that, it's like one of us won't come out."

Aang stepped forward, his face ashen. "Are you sure? Do you remember seeing this on your… um, DV show? Is it part of your powers?"

"TV show," I corrected, softly chuckling. My stomach lurched, and I stopped, my head growing dizzy. "I'm almost positive and as for the powers, I don't know. Roku never specified what my powers were."

"Are you seriously listening to her?" Katara's angry voice said from the back of the group. We all turned to stare her, surprised. Her face was livid and her eyes bored into me. "We just met her a while ago and she claims to have all of these powers! She's even dating Jet! Doesn't that set off warning bells?" She put her hands on her hips, daring anyone to contradict her.

"Look," I said, trying to focus on not falling. I leaned heavily on Jet, and he wrapped his arms around my waist. "I know you shouldn't trust me. Heck, I wouldn't trust me if I were you guys, but I'm not lying and neither is Jet. We're here to help you, not to hurt you or lead you into a trap. Why can't you just believe us? And Katara, what on earth have I done to deserve this?"

"I trust them," Aang said firmly, shooting Katara a look. She huffed and turned her back to him. "I say we listen to Bri and be on our guard."

"Hmph!" Katara flipped her hair, her aura a bright, angry red. _Why does she hate me so much? I know that she doesn't like Jet because of how he was before, but what did I do to her?_

"Ok," Toph's voice rang out. "Who's ready to find Appa and kick some Dai Li butt?" Without waiting for an answer, she Earthbended the tunnel up out of the water. We trailed behind her as she walked towards the opening. She Earthbended the cover off and we all leaned over and stared down the hole. Momo, who had been lying on Aang's head, made a scared noise and flew away. _Uh-oh, that can't be a good sign. Something bad must be down there._

Once we had all made it down the ladder and into the headquarters, we looked around. Everything was bathed in a weird green glow, as if the earth itself was letting off the light. We crept down the main hallway, with Jet in the lead and Aang right behind him. I was behind Aang, and I could hear Katara muttering comments about keeping a watch on Aang. I rolled my eyes, but the movement made my head spin, and I had to lean against the wall for support. I closed my eyes, trying to make the world stop spinning. _Pull it together Bri. You need to keep moving. _I felt someone take my arm and wrap it around their shoulder. I opened my eyes and saw Sokka staring at me, a worried frown on his face.

"Thanks," I mouthed to him. He nodded in reply. I leaned on him as we crept down the tunnel, Jet searching for the right room up front.

"It's all starting to come back to me," He told us, and snuck over to one of the many doors lining the hallway. He peeked inside, but then crept on as he saw it wasn't the right room. As Sokka and I passed it, I saw rows of women inside with a Dai Li agent in the front of the room. They all had the same unfocused, glazed look in their eyes.

"I'm Ju Di. Welcome to Ba Sing Se," the Dai Li agent said.

"I'm Ju Di. Welcome to Ba Sing Se," the women repeated, their voices speaking in unison.

"We're so lucky to have our walls to create order," the Dai Li agent intoned.

"We're so lucky to have our walls to create order."

Sokka and I shivered. _That's the creepiest thing I've ever seen. They're like zombies._

"I think there might be a cell big enough to hold Appa up ahead," Jet whispered and we snuck down the hallway until we arrived at a stone door. "I think it's through here." He pushed upon the door and…

* * *

**Zuko's POV**

I opened the door to the bison's cell, my face concealed by my Blue Spirit mask. The Avatar's bison, growled at me, immediately shrinking away from me.

"Expecting someone else?" I walked into the room, drawing my swords. The bison began to move, fighting its chains to get away from me. I crept closer, and then I was right in front of the bison, my swords gleaming in the dim lighting. _Now to finish my plan._

* * *

**Bri's POV**

We snuck into the room, Jet, Aang and Katara first, Smellerbee, Longshot and Toph in the middle, and Sokka and I bringing up the rear. The feeling in my gut had worsened, and suddenly, it stopped. _What could that mean?_

"Hey guys," I whispered. They all turned around to face me. I unwrapped my arm from Sokka's shoulder. "The feeling in my gut went away. I think that whatever is going to happen is going to happen in here, right now."

"Uh-oh," said Aang, biting his lip nervously. "That can't be good. Do you think it has to do with Appa?"

"I don't know…" I told him, but I was cut off by the sound of the door shutting behind us.

"No!" We all turned and saw that the door and slammed shut on us. I ran over to it and clawed at the door, but to no avail. We were sealed in.

Suddenly, the lights came on and I had the weirdest feeling that I was being watched. I glanced upwards and screamed: Dai Li agents were hanging from the ceiling on chains.

"Now that's something different," Sokka commented, staring at the Dai Li.

"You have made yourselves enemies of the state," Long Feng said monotonously. I shivered internally. _I would NEVER want to meet him in a dark alley. _"Take them into custody."

The Dai Li agents dropped from the ceiling silently and formed a circle around us. They immediately began to fight us with their rock fists, but Toph took care of them easily. We sprang into action, Toph fighting the two that had sent the fists and Jet taking another two. I set my sights on a group of three huddled in the corner. I pulled out my sword and charged.

_Rock fist coming at you from the right, _my voice whispered, and I ducked, causing the fist to hit the Dai Li agent behind me. He was knocked unconscious and the Dai Li who shot the fist paled. "Thanks for the help!" I said cheerily, waving at him. His expression morphed to one of fury, and he rushed at me. With my voice giving me instructions, I was unstoppable. I took down agent after agent. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see everyone holding their own. But the bad feeling in my gut had returned and I knew that it couldn't be good. I slowed down, taking in my surroundings: there was Sokka and Katara taking out some Dai Li agents in the corner, Toph having an Earthbending slugfest with four Dai Li agents towards the ceiling, and Smellerbee and Longshot fighting five Dai Li agents on the other side of the room. That left… Aang and Jet! Where are they? I searched the room desperately. _I don't see them anywhere! Where could they be? _Suddenly, I noticed that Long Feng was gone. _They must have gone after him. _Putting my sword in its sheath, I followed my gut out of the room and through an Earthbended tunnel into another hallway. I ran through the entrance and gasped in horror. _What is going on?_

* * *

**Aang's POV**

"Long Feng is escaping!" I raced after him, with Jet following close behind. I Earthbended us a tunnel into another hallway and we chased Long Feng into another open room with drains lining the walls. We ran into the center of the room, but then the entrance was sealed shut with Earthbending. Long Feng dropped to the ground, and stood up, glaring at us.

"All right Avatar," he said angrily. "You've caused me enough problems. This is your last chance if you want your bison back."

"You do have Appa!" I shouted. _I was right all along. _"Tell me where he is!"

"Agree to exit the city now and I'll wave all charges against you and allow you to leave with your lost pet."

"You're in no position to bargain," Jet snarled, raising his swords.

"Am I not?" Long Feng had an evil expression on his face and smiled maliciously.

"You're definitely not!" I shouted, raising my staff.

"Jet," Long Feng said. "The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai."

Beside me, I could feel Jet go stiff. "I am honored to accept his invitation." Immediately, he swung his swords at me and I ducked. He charged at me, screaming while I was frozen. _What is going on?_

* * *

**Zuko's POV**

The Avatar's bison roared, growled, and stomped, trying to get away from me, but it was still chained to the ground.

"You're mine now," I said, staring at it. But I guess things always wouldn't go my way, because I heard the door open behind me. I whipped my swords out, ready to fight, but then I saw that the person who opened the door was… Uncle. He shut the door behind him and I lowered my swords. "Uncle?"

"So the Blue Spirit. I wonder who could be behind that mask," he commented, stroking his beard.

I sighed and pulled of my mask. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing. What do you plan to do now that you've found the Avatar's bison? Keep it locked in our new apartment?" He stared hard at me, searching for answers that I didn't have. "Should I go put on a pot of tea for him?"

"First I have to get it out of here," I replied, turning back to face the beast.

"And then what?" Uncle exploded, anger on his face. I flinched, and turned to face him again. "You never think these things through! This is exactly what happened when you captured the Avatar at the North Pole! You had him, and then you had nowhere to go!"

"I would've figured something out," I shouted just as angrily. _Why couldn't he believe in me?_

"No," he barked. "If his friends hadn't found you, you would've frozen to death!"

"Ugh," I groaned. "I know my own destiny Uncle!"

"Is it your own destiny, or is it a destiny someone else has tried to force on you?"

"Stop it Uncle!" I screamed. "I have to do this!" _My honor, my people, my throne; I have to do this. _I turned to face the bison again, unable to see Uncle's face.

"I'm begging you Prince Zuko!" Uncle yelled from behind me. "It's time for you to look inward and begin asking yourself the big questions: Who are you? And what do you want?"

"AH!" I yelled, throwing my swords and the mask onto the floor and into a dirty puddle. I could hear my scream bouncing throughout the room, the echoes covering every inch with my anger. _What do I want?_

* * *

**Aang's POV**

"Jet! It's me, Aang!" I said desperately, trying to help him snap out of it. I had already lost my staff and it was hard to avoid all of Jet's attacks without fighting back. "You don't have to do this!"

"I'm afraid he no longer has a choice." Long Feng's voice was calm and quiet, ringing with truth. _What am I going to do now?_

* * *

**Bri's POV**

I had been standing motionless, unable to comprehend what was going on right in front of me: Jet was fighting Aang. Long Feng stood off to the side, watching the fight as Aang pleaded with Jet.

"I'm afraid he no longer has a choice," Long Feng said calmly. I was filled with anger. _How dare he do this to Jet! _I rushed over to Jet and pulled out my sword, disabling him easily.

"Bri!" Aang said gratefully, wheezing slightly. "Thank the spirits you're here!"

"Jet," I said, ignoring Aang. "You have to fight Long Feng. You don't want to do this!"

"Do your duty Jet," Long Feng ordered, his voice devoid of any emotion except anger.

"No, Jet! Please!" I remembered what Katara said earlier, about an emotional reaction and I got an idea. _I hope this works. _Standing on my tiptoes, I leaned up and pressed my lips to Jet's. He immediately went rigid, but then I felt Long Feng's hold on him shatter, and I gently stepped back. I stared into his eyes and saw my Jet looking down at me. "Hey."

"Hey," he said, smiling at me, but then his face clouded as he remembered what was going on.

"Do it, do it now!" I heard Long Feng's angry voice from behind us.

Immediately, Jet whirled to face him. I was one step ahead of him though, and threw my sword, impaling it in the wall beside Long Feng's head. My voice warned me, _He's going to attack you with Earthbending, aiming to hit you straight on. _Sure enough, Long Feng was in an Earthbending position and I saw the huge rock coming at me in slow motion. I tried to move, but my feet felt stuck to the floor and I couldn't move. All I could do was stare in horror as I waited to meet my death. The rock filled my vision and then...

I was flying.

As I sailed through the air, I realized that I wasn't in any pain, like something had just run into me. Instead, I was flying sideways, as if someone had pushed me out of the way… Jet!

I hit the ground hard, and looked up in time to see the rock run straight into Jet. _Nononononononono. _I crawled over to his limp body, desperately trying to find a pulse at his neck. The weak flutter of his heartbeat met my searching fingers. _He's alive._

I heard Aang gasp behind me and race over to us. Long Feng escaped, using an earth pillar to get away.

_He's going to die, _my voice whispered, and I choked down a sob. _He isn't going to make it out alive and doesn't plan to._

"No Jet! You can't leave me!" I kissed his lips, as if that alone would make him better. I could see his aura flickering, showing me that he was dying.

"Bri," he groaned, weakly grabbing my hand. "I love you."

"I love you too." My eyes filled with tears and my throat closed up. "Please, please don't die. We can get Katara too heal you…"

"Bri," he repeated, his grip growing even weaker. "It's too late. I can feel that I'm dying. I'm not going to make it."

"No!" I sobbed, letting the tears roll freely down my cheeks. _I should've seen this! This is the bad feeling! I should've remembered this part from the show! It's all my fault!_

"I know what you're thinking," Jet whispered. "And it's not your fault."

"Yes it is," I sobbed even harder. "I threw the sword at his head. If I hadn't done that, you'd still be fine now."

"I chose to push you out of the way," Jet coughed, a horrible gurgling sound. "It's my fault for trying to be the hero." He turned to look at Aang, who was staring down at him mournfully across from me. "I'm sorry Aang."

"Don't be," Aang said firmly. I cried more, if that was even possible and clasped both of my hands around his frail one. Behind me, I heard the door open and the gasps of everyone else. They ran over, all of us forming a circle around him. I sought out Katara and found her at the edge of the circle. "Please, you have to do something!"

She instantly leaned down and used her healing water to check him wounds. "This isn't good."

"Can you help him?" I asked pleadingly, but then I was cut off by Smellerbee.

"You guys go and find Appa," she said quietly. "We'll take care of Jet."

"No, she needs to help him!" I told her angrily, but then I felt Jet squeeze me hand. I looked down at him and saw the expression on his face. "No, you can't die!"

"It's alright," he said, his voice even weaker. "Everything will be fine."

"We're not going to leave you," Katara said, saying exactly what I was thinking.

"There's no time." At first I hadn't realized who had spoken, as the voice was unfamiliar, but I realized that it was Longshot. "Just go. We'll take care of him. He's out leader."

"Don't worry Katara," Jet told her, smiling slightly. "Everything will be fine." Jet turned his head to look at me directly, wincing at the pain. "Go with them."

"No," I said, grasping his hand tighter. "I'm staying here."

"Just do me this one favor?" Jet pleaded, his eyes begging me. "I love you."

"I love you too." I leaned down and kissed him one last time. I stood up, wiping at my tears with my arm, and turned to face everyone else. "Let's go find Appa." With that, I raced out of the room, unable to stand any longer in the room with Jet dying. I could hear Smellerbee crying, and I choked back my own tears. _It's what Jet wants. He loves me. _Once I was out of sight of the room, I slid down against one of the walls and allowed myself to cry. _He's gone._

I felt everyone else around me a couple of minutes later. Aang sat down next to me and wrapped his arms around me in a hug. I felt Sokka on my other side hugging me as well. Katara and Toph stood at a distance, but I could see their sad auras through my tears.

After a minute more of crying, I abruptly stood up, causing Aang and Sokka to flinch. I glanced down at Aang. "Come on, we need to find Appa." With that, I lead the way back to the main hallway, everyone else trailing behind me.

* * *

We opened the door to the fifth room in a row, and found only chains and… clumps of fur?

"Appa's gone! Long Feng beat us here," Aang said dejectedly. _Great, one more thing I did wrong today. If I hadn't been crying, we might have gotten to Appa first._

"If we keep moving, maybe we can catch up to them!" Sokka suggested and we raced out the door.

* * *

Toph created a tunnel up to the surface for us and we piled out onto the shore. We ran as fast as we could, hoping to find a glimpse of Appa. I looked behind us and saw that Dai Li agents had followed us out and were gaining on us. "Head's up guys!"

Sokka glanced back too. "Do you think we could outrun them?"

"I don't think it's going to matter," Aang replied, seeing another line of Dai Li agents in front of us, and another on the rocks above. Long Feng stood in the center of the line in front of us, and the agents formed a wall, preventing us from going straight anymore. The ones behind us formed another wall, trapping us in.

Momo suddenly appeared out of nowhere, landing on Aang's shoulder. "What is it Momo?" Aang asked him. In response, Momo jumped off Aang's shoulder and flew up into the sky. We all stared hard at where he disappeared. Abruptly, a huge, dark shape appeared in front of the sun. I squinted at it, not really believing until I saw the huge arrow on its forehead: Appa was back!

"Appa!" Aang yelled happily, overjoyed at seeing his friend again.

Appa ran through the two walls, scattering Dai Li agents everywhere. Aang and Toph raced over to the rocks where the other Dai Li agents stood and Earthbended them out into the lake, where they fell in with huge splashes. Appa came around again and landed just in front of Long Feng. Appa growled menacingly at him, knowing that he was the one who had held him captive.

"I can handle you by myself," Long Feng said, getting into a fighting position. He leaped forward, only to get his foot caught in Appa's mouth. Appa grabbed firmly onto his leg and slung him out over the lake. Long Feng did a couple of skips and landed with a huge SPLASH! into the lake. Appa spit out his shoe, which had been caught in his mouth.

Now that all of the danger was over, we raced over to Appa, everyone yelling happily as they attacked Appa.

"I missed you buddy," Aang said crying. Appa growled in agreement.

I stood awkwardly to the side, not knowing what to do. Appa seemed to notice me, and made a little noise in his throat. Hesitantly, I walked over to him and rubbed his face. He growled contentedly (or was it a purr?) and I smiled, my cheeks stiff from my tears. Aang noticed my happy sadness, and got off Appa long enough to give me a hug.

"Thanks Aang," I whispered, and I felt him nod. I pulled back and smiled at him. "I'm glad you have Appa back."

"I am too," Aang agreed. "But I wish everyone was here."

"I do too," I choked down a sob. "I do too." I hugged him again, and I felt Sokka, Katara, Toph, even Appa and Momo crowd around us, sharing in the happiness of being reunited again, but grieving the loss of a friend.

* * *

**Third Person POV**

Zuko and Iroh climbed out of the Dai Li's headquarters, staring at Appa as the Gaang flew away.

"You did the right thing Nephew," Iroh said soothingly to Zuko. Zuko pulled out his Blue Spirit mask and stared hard at it. "Leave it behind."

Listening to his Uncle's good advice, Zuko threw the mask into the lake, and Iroh and Zuko watched it sink into the depths until they couldn't see it anymore.

* * *

**Bri's POV**

_Jet's gone. How could he be gone? I should've known this would happen. _I wrapped my hands tighter around my knees, my eyes still tightly shut. _It's all my fault he's dead._

The Gaang and I were on an island in the middle of Lake Laogai. I was about one hundred feet away from everyone else, trying to avoid contact with anyone. It seemed to be working, as no one paid me any attention. I didn't know if I should be grateful or annoyed about this fact. I was close enough, however, that I could see and hear what was going on out of the corner of my eye.

"I missed you more than you'll ever know buddy," Aang said, winding his hands tightly into Appa's fur. Appa stuck his tongue out and Aang fell to the ground, laughing. He began to rub Appa's fur as Momo went in for his turn to hug Appa.

Sokka got up and walked over to Katara and Toph, a serious expression on his face. "Look, we escaped from the Dai Li, got Appa back, I'm telling you: we should go to the Earth King now and tell him our plan. We're on a roll!"

"One good hour after weeks of trouble isn't much of a roll," Katara replied, shooting down his idea. _If this is a good hour, I'd hate to see what a horrible one is._

"We can build on it," Sokka said enthusiastically. "If we want to invade the Fire Nation when the eclipse happens, we need the Earth King's support."

"What makes you think we'll get it?" Toph's sharp voice cut through the air. "I don't know if you've noticed, but things don't usually go that smoothly for our little gang." _True that._

"I know," Sokka admitted. "But I've got a good feeling about this. This time will be different."

"Sokka, Long Feng is in control of the city," Katara said angrily. "His conspiracy with the Dai Li is too powerful." She threw her hands down in frustration. "I think we should keep flying and leave this horrible place behind us."

"I'm with Sweetness," Toph agreed from her spot on the ground. "I've seen enough of Ba Sing Se, and I can't even see!" She threw her hands up, proving her point, and I smiled a fraction. _Toph is such a funny person and nothing ever really bothers her. I envy her for that._

Aang jumped over to put his two cents in. "But now that we have Appa back, there's nothing stopping us from telling the Earth King the truth about the conspiracy and the war."

"See!" Sokka said, wrapping his arm around Aang. "Aang's with me!" He smiled widely at Katara and Toph, trying to convince them to go along with his plan. "It's the whole reason we came here in the first place, we have to try."

Katara rubbed her chin, thinking it over. "Well, I guess if the Earth King knew the truth, things could change."

Toph stood up suddenly. "I don't trust the new, positive Sokka. Long Feng brainwashed you, didn't he?" She pointed her finger at Sokka accusingly.

Aang tensed and ran over to the edge of the water. I followed his line of sight until I noticed three ships crossing the lake.

I heard Sokka run over to Aang, along with Katara. "That's probably the Dai Li searching for us, so?" He turned towards Katara, needing her permission to continue.

Katara thought it over and then turned to face Sokka with grim determination. "Let's fly."

* * *

We soared through the sky, Appa roaring ferociously. In front of me, I heard Toph yell, "Can we please buy a new saddle? Riding bareback is terrifying!" She buried her head into Appa's fur, trying to burrow herself in so she didn't fall off.

"Are you kidding me?" I shouted back, grasping tighter to Appa's fur. "This is amazing! Why can't we do this every day?" I raised my head, the wind blowing my hair back and freezing my face. My eyes took in everything beneath us, people the size of ants, houses the size of nickels, everything was so small. I felt so free in the air, like nothing could ever bring me down. _Why didn't I try this sooner? This is INCREDIBLE! _"Woo hoo!"

"There it is," Sokka informed us, pointing straight ahead. I leaned to the side and saw that he was pointing at a small palace, or at least what looked like a small palace from the air. "That whole thing is the palace. The Earth King's chamber should be in the center."

"We have to be careful," Katara advised. "Long Feng has probably warned the King that we're coming."

"Why would you assume that?" Sokka asked her, puzzled. "If you ask me, I think we're going to sail right on in…"

"Look out!" I screamed, noticing a huge rock hurtling towards us. Aang quickly maneuvered Appa to avoid it and Appa roared as he went through the smoke cloud left by the rock.

"What was that?" Toph screeched. _Poor Toph. _She looked pale and absolutely terrified.

"We're being attacked!" I cried, noticing the line of Earthbenders on the ground below. "They're attacking again!" Sure enough, they began to fire more rocks in quick succession, with Appa dodging every single one. One came straight at Aang, but he just stuck his hand out and the rock exploded into tiny pieces._ Sweet! I wish I could do that._

We got closer, until Aang leaped off, heading straight for the ground. He slammed his staff right in front of a huge line of Earth Kingdom warriors, and the ground rolled beneath them, knocking them all over. Appa landed, and we all jumped off and began to move towards the Earth King's palace.

The Earthbenders kept attacking, but we took care of them no problem. Aang, Toph, and Katara were bending up a storm, while Sokka and I played defense, blocking anything that tried to hit them. We made our way up to the palace quickly, but when we actually got to the Earth King's chamber, we couldn't open the door… or at least Sokka couldn't. He ran straight at it, sticking his foot out to kick open the door, but he just bounced right off. He tried pushing it open, but that wouldn't work either. I smiled slightly. _Oh Sokka. _Aang stepped forward, using a gust of wind to knock the door off of its hinges and pushing Sokka into the room as well. Sokka rubbed his head, turning to look back at us. "A little warning next time?"

We rushed into the room, Toph getting a rock, Katara bending her water out of her pouch, Aang raising his staff, and Sokka and I getting into battle stances. The Earth King was sitting on his throne, with an angry Long Feng next to him. Dai Li agents appeared as if from thin air, forming a line of defense in front of the Earth King.

"We need to talk to you," Aang said, slightly angry.

"They're here to overthrow you," Long Feng sounded slightly angry as well, though he managed to keep his cool demeanor. He didn't fool me though, his bright red aura shone out like a miniature sun in the throne room.

"No, we're on your side. We're here to help," Sokka said, glaring at Long Feng.

"You have to trust us," Katara pleaded.

"You invade my palace, lay waste to all my guards, break down my fancy door, and you expect me to trust you?" The Earth King looked absolutely livid, his aura rivaling that of Long Feng's. I shuffled my feet uncomfortably. _I guess he does have a point… We probably could've thought of a different way to get his attention._

"He has a good point," Toph remarked, thinking along the same lines as me.

"If you're on my side, drop your weapons and stand down," the Earth commanded, his authoritative voice not giving us a choice in the matter.

We shared a look, and then as Aang dropped his head in resignation, we all put away our weapons.

"See! We're friends your Earthiness!" Aang raising his hands in a placating manner, smiling nervously at the Earth King.

Immediately, my voice warned me, _Long Feng is going to get his agents to bind your arms with rock cuffs._

_I know that, _I snapped. _Is there anything I can do about that?_

_Pay attention, _my voice replied. _Listen to his story and you will find what you are looking for._

_Whoa, _I thought. _You can answer my questions? Awesome!_

Just like my voice told me, Long Feng raised his hand and the Dai Li rockcuffed our hands together. He smiled evilly, his facial features showing us that he was gloating on the inside. "Detain the assailants." The Dai Li agents rushed at us, forming a line behind us.

"But we dropped our weapons," Sokka exclaimed, disbelief coloring his voice. "We're your allies!"

"Make sure the Avatar and his friends never see daylight again." Long Feng's aura glowed a deep purple, his satisfaction evident. At this comment, the Earth King looked confused. _Did he not know that Aang was the Avatar?_

My guess was correct, as the next thing out of his mouth was, "The Avatar? You're the Avatar?" He pointed at Sokka, more astonished now than confused.

"Uh, no. Him," Sokka nudged his shoulder at Aang.

"Over here," Aang said, releasing his arms from his cuffs and waving at the Earth King before putting his hands back in his cuffs.

"What does it matter Your Highness?" Long Feng commented, his calm voice disguising the fact that his aura was leaning toward a slightly worried yellow. "They are enemies of the State."

The Earth King looked uncertain. "Perhaps you're right…" His aura was a distinct gray, confusion evident. Just then, Bosco trotted over to Aang, licking his face as Aang laughed. "Though Bosco seems to like him. I'll hear what he has to say." Long Feng looked furious, his aura growing even brighter.

Aang stepped forward. "Well sir, there's a war going on right now, for the past 100 years in fact. The Dai Li has kept it secret from you. It's a conspiracy to control the city and to control you."

"A secret war?" The Earth King asked, shocked. "That's crazy!"

"Completely," Long Feng agreed, completely angry now.

"Long Feng didn't want us to tell you," Aang continued. "So he stole our sky bison to blackmail us, and blackmail is the least of his crimes: He brainwashed our friend!"

Long Feng turned to the King. "All lies. I've never even seen a sky bison Your Majesty. Frankly, I thought they were extinct."

"Your claim is difficult to believe, even from an Avatar," the Earth King admitted, sitting back down on his throne.

"These hooligans are part of an anarchist group that my agents have been tracking for weeks," Long Feng's slithering voice whispered to the Earth King. "If you listen to them, you're playing right into your own destruction."

"I have to trust my advisor…" the Earth King began, but then I cut him off.

"Excuse me Your Highness," I began, curtseying. _Do you even curtsey before speaking to a King? Whatever. _"I would like to point something out: Long Feng said that he has never seen a sky bison before, correct?" I glared at Long Feng, daring him to lie.

"Yes, I have never seen one before," Long Feng replied, glaring right back at me.

"Then why does he have a bite mark from Appa on his leg?" Before he could even realize what we were doing, Aang had freed my hands of my cuffs and I had ran up to where he was standing, pulled up his robe, and showed the Earth King the bite marks on his leg.

"That happens to be a large birthmark," Long Feng said angrily, wrenching his robe out of my grasp to cover the bite mark. "Thanks for showing everyone."

"Yeah, and I'm the Avatar," I replied snottily, rolling my eyes. "And you're welcome about showing everyone." I walked back to the others, where they were standing with incredulous looks on their faces. Actually, Toph was trying to suppress her laughter, while Katara was staring at me like I had grown to heads. I shrugged my shoulders at her, and she bite back a tiny smile. Inwardly, I cheered. _Maybe she's finally warming up to me!_

"Well, I suppose there's no way to prove where those marks came from," the Earth King said, gesturing towards Long Feng's leg.

"Of course there is!" Sokka interjected, and told the Earth King what he wanted to do. A few minutes later, Appa was in the throne room with us and Aang was comparing Appa's teeth with the bite mark on Long Feng's leg.

"Yup, that pretty much proves it." We cheered, and began celebrating. _The Earth King believes us! _"But it doesn't prove this crazy conspiracy theory." Dejected, we groaned together. _Come on! _"Though, I suppose this matter is worth looking into." Long Feng looked downright furious, while we were just happy to take what we could get. Long Feng stalked off with his Dai Li agents and my voice warned me, _He's going to destroy the Dai Li headquarters!_

"Wait, stop!" I shouted, gaining everyone's attention. "Long Feng is going to destroy the Dai Li's headquarters at Lake Laogai!" I raced after them, with everyone at my heels. However, we were too late: Long Feng was gone.

* * *

"What do we do now?" I asked, pacing back and forth in the throne room.

"I don't know," Sokka confessed. "What other things or places are there that we could use to prove to the Earth King that Long Feng is no good?"

"I've got it!" Katara exclaimed, startling me. "The wall! They'll never be able to cover that up in time!"

"The wall?" The Earth King asked, confused.

"If you come with us to the Outer Wall, we can prove to you that the secret war is real," Aang begged the King.

"No Earth King has ever been to the Outer Wall. Why should I go now?"

"If you come with us, you can ride on Appa," I suggested. I'd noticed that every time the King looked at Appa, his excitement grew and I'd guessed that meant that he wanted to ride him. My guess was correct, as the Earth King immediately agreed, looking overly excited at the idea. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

* * *

"Ahhhhhh!" The Earth King screamed, the wind rushing past him.

"First time flying?" Toph asked sarcastically.

"It's both thrilling and terrifying." The Earth King's voice sounded small, as if he was too excited, or scared, to speak.

"Yeah," Toph agreed. "I hate it too."

"I have to be honest with you," the Earth King informed us. "Part of me hopes that what you're telling me about this war isn't true." He ducked his head, sadness spilling out of his aura.

"I wish it wasn't," Aang replied, his aura sad as well.

We flew for another half hour before we reached the Outer Wall. Aang's happy voice rang out. "It's still there!"

Sure enough, a huge drill with the Fire Nation emblem on it sat just outside the Wall.

"What is that?" The Earth King asked, sounding horrified.

"It's a drill. A giant drill made by the Fire Nation to break through your walls," Sokka told him, his voice scarily clam.

We landed on the wall, and the Earth King stared down at the drill beneath him. "I can't believe I never knew." He sounded so lost, so resigned. His aura glowed with the deepest, darkest blue I have ever seen in my whole life.

Suddenly, we heard a noise from our right. Long Feng appeared with two Dai Li agents, rising up from an Earth platform in the ground. "I can explain this Your Majesty. This is nothing more than a construction project."

"Really?" Katara asked, her attitude obvious. "Then perhaps you can explain why there's a Fire Nation insignia on your 'construction project'?"

"Well it's imported of course," Long Feng replied, his voice slightly shaking. "You know you can't trust domestic machinery." He smiled nervously at the Earth King, hoping for the smallest chance that he would believe him. "Surely you don't believe these children over your most loyal attendant?" He acted offended now, making us look like the bad guys.

The Earth looked back and forth between us and Long Feng, trying to figure out who was lying and who wasn't. It apparently wasn't that hard, as not even two seconds later, he said, "Dai Li, arrest Long Feng. I want him to stand trial for crimes against the Earth Kingdom."

Long Feng's face grew wide in disbelief. I don't know if anyone else noticed, but the Dai Li agents glanced at each other like they weren't going to obey the Earth King. I tensed, ready to fight, but they just dragged him back and hauled him away.

"You can't arrest me! You all need me more than you know!" Lon Feng's angry voice filled the air, warning us.

"Look like Long Feng is long gone!" Sokka said, laughing at his own joke. "Ha, oh yeah. I've been waiting to use that one!"

* * *

Night fell, and we were back at the Earth King's palace. "I want to thank you, young heroes, for opening my eyes. All this time what I thought was a great metropolis was merely a city of fools, and that makes me the King Fool." The Earth King sounded so depressed, all I wanted to do was make him feel better. "We're at war, with the Fire Nation."

"That's why we came to Ba Sing Se, Your Highness," Sokka told him. "Because we think that you can help us and the war."

"We don't have much time," Aang said. "There's a comet coming this summer and its energy will give the Firebenders unbelievable strength; they'll be unstoppable."

Sokka stepped forward. "But there is hope. Before the comet comes, we have a window of opportunity. A solar eclipse is coming. The sun will be entirely blocked out by the moon and the Firebenders will be helpless."

"What are you suggesting Sokka?"

"That's the day we need to invade the Fire Nation," Sokka told him, his tone deadly serious. "The Day of Black Sun."

"I don't know," the Earth King said uncertainly. "That would require moving troops out of Ba Sing Se, we'd be completely vulnerable."

"You're already vulnerable." _Sokka is going to make an excellent general when he grows up. _"The Fire Nation won't stop until Ba Sing Se falls. You can either sit back and wait for that to happen, or take the offensive and give yourself a fighting chance."

The Earth King said back in his throne, mulling everything over. "Very well. You have my support."

"Yeah!" We all cheered, celebrating over our victory.

"You're Majesty," someone said from behind us. I turned and saw an older man in a uniform with a cape tied around his shoulders. "I apologize for the interruption." He walked forward, so that he was standing in front of the stairs, right next to us.

"This is General How," the Earth King informed us. "He's the leader of the Council of Five, my highest ranking generals."

"We searched Long Feng's office," General How told him. "I think we found something that will interest everybody."

* * *

We were all in Long Feng's office, waiting for General How to show us what he had found. My eyes darted around, taking everything in. I shivered, almost expecting Long Feng to jump out and attack me. This place screamed, "Creepy evil guy!"

A soldier walked up with a box and set it on the table in front of us. "There are secret files on everyone in Ba Sing Se, including you kids."

"Secret files?" Aang asked confused.

"Top Bei Fong," the Earth King said, holding up a scroll. He handed it to General How, who handed it to Toph, who just passed it over to Katara. She opened the scroll and read it. "It's a letter from your mom. Your mom's here in the city and she wants to see you!" Toph's blank eyes widened in shock, as if she couldn't believe it.

"Long Feng intercepted our letters from home?" Her incredulous voice asked. She shook her head. "That's just sad."

"Aang," the Earth King said.

"This scroll was attached to the horn of your bison when the Dai Li captured it," General How informed him as Aang read the note.

His eyes went back and forth over the paper, reading what it had to say. "It's from the Eastern Air Temple."

"Is there a letter for me and Sokka by any chance?" Katara asked nonchalantly, but I noticed her and Sokka leaning forward in anticipation.

"I'm afraid not," the Earth King said regretfully. Katara and Sokka leaned back, disappointment etched on their faces. "Oh."

"But there is an intelligence report that might interest you," General How spoke up, handing Katara a scroll.

" 'A small fleet of Water Tribe ships?' " She read out, disbelieving.

"What? That could be Dad!" Sokka said excitedly.

" 'Protecting the mouth of Chameleon Bay? Led by Hakota?' It is Dad!" Katara exclaimed, overjoyed at the thought of seeing her father again. She and Sokka smiled at each other, not believing their good fortune.

"I can't believe it!" Aang said, his disbelieving tone proving what he said. "There's a man living at the Eastern Air Temple. He says he's a guru."

"What's a guru?" Sokka interrupted. "Some kind of poisonous blowfish?"

"So a poisonous blowfish is living at the Eastern Air Temple?" I teased him. "On a mountain? With no bodies of water around?" Sokka stuck his tongue out at me, and I laughed.

"No," Aang said apologetically. "A spiritual expert. He wants to help me take the next step in the Avatar journey. He says he can teach me to control the Avatar State!"

"And I can't believe we know where our Dad is now," Katara added, her aura shining a bright pink.

"I know what you mean," Toph admitted. "My mom's in the city and from her letter, it sounds like she finally understands me."

"This is all such big news!" Sokka exclaimed. "Where do we even start?"

"You guys need to split up," I said quietly, knowing that it was the only way of action.

"Split up?" Aang asked, distressed. "We just found Appa and got the family back together! Now you want us to separate?"

"You all have your things that you need to do." I gestured to each one of them. "Toph needs to see her mom, you need to master the Avatar State, and Katara and Sokka need to see their father. You can't do all that together."

"Well, if we're going to the Eastern Air Temple, Appa and I can drop you off at Chameleon Bay to see your dad," Aang said, nodding his head at Katara.

"Someone has to stay here with the Earth King and help him plan for the invasion," Sokka said quietly. "I guess that's me."

"No, it's not," I said, waving my hand dismissively at him. "I can do it. You all can go do your individual things. I don't have anything that I need to do, so it makes sense that I stay here."

"No, it doesn't," Katara said softly. I turned to look at her, confused. "You were sent here to help Aang, so you have to stay with him and go to the Eastern Air Temple with him. I'll stay here with the Earth King."

"But what about your dad?" I asked disbelievingly.

"I'll see him at the invasion," Katara smiled slightly at him. "Don't worry, it'll be fine." _Wow, she goes from hating me to giving up seeing her dad from me… Maybe she's not so bad after all. _I smiled back at her, thanking her and she nodded in return.

* * *

The next day, we were all gathered by Appa and the Earth King was coming down the steps to see us off. I saw Aang and Katara talking together, and judging by the reddish-pink of Aang's aura, he was slightly embarrassed. I smiled to myself, remembering this from the show. I'd always been a Kataang fan and it was so cute to see them together in person. But of course, Sokka interrupted and began rubbing Aang's head.

"Aang and Sokka," the Earth King began. "I wish you a good journey. Ba Sing Se owes you its thanks. We look forward to your safe return." We bowed, giving the Earth King our respect.

A guard walked up. "Your Majesty, there are three female warriors here to see you. They're from the island of Kyoshi."

"That's Suki!" Sokka, who had been climbing up Appa, let go of Appa's fur and fell to the ground with a THUMP! He began moaning and rubbing his back.

"You know these warriors?" The Earth King asked.

"Oh yeah," Sokka said dreamily. "Kyoshi Warriors are a skilled group of fighters, trustworthy too. They're good friends of ours."

The Earth King nodded his head. "Then we will welcome them as honored guests." The messenger guard bowed to the King, and set off to spread the news.

"Wait, Aang," Katara said and hugged him around the neck, then kissed him on the cheek. I giggled slightly, noticing Aang's bright red cheeks.

"I'm really going to miss you guys," Toph said, her voice unusually quiet.

"Me too," Katara said, moving in for a hug.

"Yeah," Aang said sadly, also hugging her.

The trio glanced over at Sokka and I, and pulled us in as well. I smiled, happy to be included. Then, Sokka, Aang, and I hopped on Appa and flew away, leaving Katara and Toph behind us.

* * *

"You see Aang! A little positive thinking works wonders," Sokka said happily.  
We got the King on our side, Long Feng arrested, and when we get back, Suki's waiting for me."

"Yeah," Aang said dreamily. "Girls are waiting for us." I resisted the urge to sigh. _He and Katara are so cute together! _"Thanks positive attitude."

"Everything is going to work out perfectly." Sokka sounded so sure. "From now on and forever." I knew I should believe him, but I couldn't get rid of the small bad feeling that was beginning to grow in my gut. I knew I shouldn't ignore it, but Sokka was right: Everything was fine. I'd deal with my bad feeling later. I laid beside Sokka and stared up at the clouds with him, trying not to cry as I remembered the last time I had a bad feeling. _I won't let anyone else get hurt, I promise Jet._

* * *

**Yay! Longest chapter ever! I hope you guys like it!**

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	5. Author's Note

**Okay everyone, I have bad news:**

**Finals is next week. *groan* I know a lot of you feel my pain, talk about stupidest thing ever! Anyway, I've been busy studying, which is why I haven't been posting any new chapters the last two weeks (I know, I'm an obsessive studier. Sue me if you want to. Is studier even a word? Whatever). So, I decided to let you guys know that I won't be posting any new chapters until next Saturday at the earliest. I'm so sorry and I hope you forgive me!**

**-TigerChik1242**


	6. The Spirit World and Disbelief

**Hey everyone!**

**Finals are OVER! WOOHOOOOO! It is FINALLY summer and I am ready to write! I'm so excited to sleep for 14 hours straight, go tubing all day long, soak up the sun… sigh. It sounds like paradise. I am BEYOND excited. YEAH!**

**Anothing thing: I made revisions to my (now) first and second chapters in between study breaks. Read over them and tell me what you think! Don't worry, the basics are still the same, I just added in more details and such. I will finish the revisions of the other chapters sometime soon hopefully.**

**Thirdly, Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend!**

_**Disclaimer:**_** If you haven't gotten it by now, I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Don't make fun of me and rub it in my face.**

* * *

**Bri's POV**

_I wonder what it would be like to be a cloud, just drifting along in the sky, watching over anyone, no stupid emotions to deal with... _I wiped the fresh tears off of my face as I stared at the puffy white clouds hovering over us. I was lying on my back beside Sokka as he snoozed. Every once in a while I would be startled out of my thinking as Sokka made this weird snore every once in a while, kind of a mixture between a grunt and a growl. Just then, he made his little snore sound: "Grumph!"

My mouth turned up at the corner, but then I went back to thinking. _I wish I could fly away and leave my feelings behind. _Sighing, I turned over to look at Aang, who was at the moment sitting in the slight indentation where Appa's head met his neck. The young Airbender had been awake for hours, but still refused when Sokka or I volunteered to drive. I noticed his head starting to bob up and down, and I knew that the need for sleep was finally getting to him. I crawled up behind him and sat next to him, reaching for the reigns. "I'll take it from here Aang. You're exhausted and you need to sleep."

He shook his head stubbornly, but then his eyes started to droop and I knew I had won. He wordlessly handed me the reigns and I took them gladly. I shooed him away and he dragged himself over next to Sokka and was soon fast asleep. I tightened my grip on the smooth leather and began giving myself a peptalk: "All right Bri, you can do this. How hard can driving a sky bison be?

* * *

"Ahhhh!" I screamed, yanking hard on the reigns. It had been a few hours since Aang had let me take over and everything had been smooth sailing... that is, until this mega wind storm came out of nowhere. "I don't want to die young! There's still so much in my life that I want to do! Stupid storm! Go knock someone else out of the sky!"

Suddenly, Aang slid down right next to me and held his hands out for the reigns. I immediately gave them to him, glad to let him take control again. I looked back and still saw Sokka fast asleep. _How on earth does he do that?_ He woke up a second later when Appa was thrown sideways by them wind and began to spin out of control.

"What's going on?" Sokka screamed, holding onto Appa's fur like his life depended on it, which it did.

"A huge storm just came out of nowhere," I yelled back, copying him to try to prevent myself from falling off of Appa. I shut my eyes tightly and prayed that we would get out of this all in one piece. There was a sudden lurch and my fingers were loosened from Appa's fur. I tried desperately to get a better grip, but another gust hit Appa and I was falling. The clouds flew by as I fell towards the sea and as I opened my mouth to scream, everything faded to black.

* * *

**Aang's POV**

I was startled out of my nap by a huge gust of wind almost blowing me off of Appa. I grabbed onto his fur, twining my fingers to get a better grip. I pulled myself over to Appa's head and jumped down beside Bri, who was screaming something about not dying. I grabbed the reigns from her and she gratefully hopped onto Appa's back with Sokka. I turned my focus back to the mystery storm. _Where had it come from? There wasn't a cloud in sight when I fell asleep a couple of hours ago. _Shaking my head, I cleared my head of the puzzling thoughts and concentrated on making sure Appa didn't fall out of the sky.

Behind me, I heard Sokka and Bri screaming at each other. "A huge storm came out of nowhere," came Bri's voice. _So it's not just me who thinks this isn't natural. _More gusts of wind rushed past us and the wind whistled in my ears. All of a sudden, the storm was gone and the sun broke through the clouds.

"Bri!" I heard Sokka from behind me. I twisted around and saw Sokka leaning over the side of Appa, looking horrified. _Where was Bri?_

"Sokka," I said slowly. "Where's Bri?"

"She's gone," he replied, his face ashen. "She fell over the side."

"What?" I yelled. I immediately made Appa go into a dive, my eyes scanning the air. "I don't see her anywhere."

"I don't either," Sokka said, his eyes searching as well. "She couldn't have disappeared into thin air, could she?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "But whatever happened, it can't be good."

* * *

**Bri's POV  
**"Ahhh!" I screamed, sitting up. _Wait, sitting up? _I looked down and, sure enough, there was a solid floor underneath me. I took in my surroundings and saw that I was in what looked like a wooden temple. I was sitting in front of huge, iron doors with five heads in front of it. It was shaped like a giant golden flame.

"I remember this," I muttered staring at the door. "I'm at the Temple of the Avatar in the Fire Nation. But why am I here?"

Just as I said this, a bright light filled the room. I shielded my eyes, and when I put my hand down, Avatar Roku was standing in front of me.

"Holy crap!" I shouted, backing away and putting my hand over my heart. "Do you want to scare me to death?"

Roku smiled at me. "It's good to see you too, Brianna. You have been doing a good job helping Aang."

"What are you talking about? I haven't done anything except get Jet killed!" I shot him an incredulous glance, not believing what I was hearing.

"You warned him of the coming danger and helped him fight a powerful enemy," Roku said gently. "That is something to be proud of."

"Something to be proud of? Something to be PROUD OF?" I yelled. "I'm a murderer! How can you be proud of me? Next thing I know, you'll be handing out medals to pyscopaths and terrorists!"

"Terrorists?" Roku asked me, his eyebrows knit together in confusion.

"Never mind," I snapped. "My point is, you shouldn't be proud of me for KILLING someone."

"I'm confused Brianna. Tell me, how did you kill Jet?" Roku asked me, his eyes locking with mine.

"I threw my sword at Long Feng. Long Feng tried to attack me, but Jet pushed me out of the way and took the attack for me." Just thinking about those horrible moments made my throat clsoe up and my eyes burn. Swallowing hard, I continued. "If I hadn't thrown that sword, Jet wouldn't have had to save me and he would still be alive." I wiped my eyes and tried not to think of Jet. _Jet, with his never-ending patience and good attitude. Jet, who could always make me laugh. Jet, who was my first kiss and first real boyfriend..._

"Were you the one who attacked Jet?" Roku's voice cut through my thoughts and for a moment I had to rethink his question. "What?"

"I said, were you the one who attacked Jet?" Roku asked me again.

"No, that was Long Feng," I said slowly, trying to figure out his point.

"Did you tell Jet to save you?"

"No."

"Then why is it your fault? If you didn't attack him or tell him to save you, then why are you blaming yourself?"

"Because, because..." I was at a loss for words. I hadn't thought about it that way before. I shifted my eyes back to meet Roku's. "It just is, okay?"

"I don't mean to argue with you Brianna, but if you didn't attack Jet or tell him to save you, then why are you blaming yourself? If anyone is to be at fault, it's Long Feng. He was the one who attacked you, he was the reason that Jet had to save you."

"But he didn't have to save me! I would've dodged the attack!" _No, I wouldn't have. _I remembered the way my feet felt glued to the ground, the rock coming at me in slow motion. _I should have died, but Jet saved me. _I stared at the ground, not willing to meet Roku's eyes.

"But Jet still saved you, and that was his decision to make, not yours." Roku's voice became tired, as if the years were pressing down on him. "We cannot make others' decisions, only our own. It is how we adapt and respond to those decisions that help us continue on."

I lifted my head and stared at a blurry Roku. Somehow, without my noticing, my eyes had filled up with tears. Surprising both of us, I wrapped my arms around Roku and hugged him tightly. "I just miss him so much." My tears ran down my face, staining Roku's robe. He patted my back, not saying a word, letting me grieve properly.

I kept hugging him for a couple more minutes, neither of us saying a word except for my crying. Eventually, I stepped away from Roku and wiped my eyes, hiccuping as I did so. "Thank you." I didn't know why I was apologizing, but it just felt right.

"You're welcome," Roku said kindly. He, at least, seemed to understand my thanks.

"So what am I doing here? How did I get here?"

"You and I have a special connection Brianna. Whenever you need me or I need you, we will always be able to contact each other, even if it isn't the solstice. As a spirit, I have brought you to this particular place because it was a very important place to me during my lifetime and I am emotionally connected to it. As for why you are here, I think that it is time you knew about all of your powers and why you have them."

"Really? That's awesome!" I couldn't keep the excitement out of my voice. _Finally! A way to learn how to control my powers. _A sudden thought crossed my mind. "But what about Aang? What if he needs me?"

"Don't worry," Roku assured me. "He will be fine."

* * *

**Aang's POV**

"Ugh! What is this stuff?" I asked Guru Pathik, staring down at the "food" in my bowl. "It tastes like onion and banana juice."

"That's because it is! Yum!" the guru said happily, swallowing it down in one large gulp. He flipped the bowl over and put it over his head, proving that it was all gone. I gaped at him. _This guy is nuts! What person in their right mind likes onion and banana juice?_

"Okay..." I trailed off. "Anyway, Guru Pathik, how can you help me control the Avatar State? You said in your note that..."

"Yes, yes," Guru Pathik waved his hand, cutting me off. "Let's get started! Do you know anything about chakras?"

"Chakras?" I asked blankly. "What is a chakra?"

Guru Pathik sighed. "We have a lot of work to do." He brightened up. "That means more onion and banana juice!" He looked like he had just found out that the War was over and the Fire Nation had been defeated. _How can anyone be that happy about onion and banana juice?_

"Yay," I muttered sarcastically. _This is going to stink._

* * *

**Bri's POV**

"The first thing that you need to know about your powers is that they all are connected to emotions and the mind," Roku began. We were both sitting inside on the porch of the temple, staring out at the sunset. We were both sitting Indian style across from each other, meditating because Roku said that it would help me focus more. "Your powers include sensing other's emotions, their intents, tracking, and basic mind reading."

"Mind reading? Are you serious?" I asked disbelievingly.

"Yes, but not mind reading in the way that you are probably thinking," Roku explained. I shot him a confused look. _Huh? _"You can only skim the minds of others and only see things that affect you and the people close to you. For example, you couldn't read someone's mind about what they wanted to buy at the market that day, but you could read their minds if they were thinking about wondering where you got your sword. Also, you can only read whatever that person is thinking at the moment, so you can't go digging through someone's mind for the information you need."

"Seriously? What's the point of mind reading if you can't do anything with it?" I huffed.

"You are very fortunate Brianna," Roku said sternly. "Most people would kill to have these powers."

"Sorry Roku," I muttered, embarrassed. "Please continue."

"You already have a hang of sensing other's emotions and intents, so the last one you need to learn is tracking. Your powers can tell you where anyone you are emotionally connected to is at any moment in time."

"That's awesome!" I exclaimed. "So if Aang and I get separated, I can find him wherever he is?"

"Correct," Roku said smiling.

"Cool!" I began to bounce up and down excitedly, but then stopped as a though struck me. "What about if Aang is in the Spirit World?"

"You can still find him, but you will just go to the spot that he at in the Spirit World. You will have to contact me if you need to go to the Spirit World," Roku explained.

"So I can ask you to take me to the Spirit World whenever I need to? Why can't Aang do that? You're his past life!" _Ugh, my brain hurts. Stupid powers. Stupid rules._

"I may be Aang's past life, but we aren't connected like you and I are. I brought you here from another world and that bond can't be severed. I am your link to your world, thus you can't leave here without me. We are connected."

"I guess that makes sense." _I'm so confused!_

"However, you will have to connect your emotions to Aang's in order to track him."

"What?" I asked. _There's more?_

"You must connect your emotions to Aang's," Roku repeated. "That means that once you are connected, he will feel your emotions and you can feel his at any time in any place, even the Spirit World. He will feel your happiness, your pain, and he will feel yours. If he is injured, you will feel it. If you feel happy, he will feel it as well."

"Wow, that's intense," I whistled.

"Yes, but it will help you protect Aang. You can't keep secrets from each other. Now," Roku said, standing up and brushing dust off of his robes. He held a hand out for me and helped me up, his grip surprisingly strong. "Let's get started on working on your powers, shall we?"

* * *

**Aang's POV**

"If you leave now, you won't be able to go into the Avatar State at all!"

Guru Pathik's words echoed through my brain. A worried voice popped up. _What have I done? I've risked everything! Maybe I should go back..._

_NO! _A new voice appeared, fighting the first one. _Katara is in trouble! We have to go help her!_

_But what about the rest of the world? We blocked off the Avatar State! What if we can't defeat the Fire Lord now?_

_We can do it. We will have Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Bri. There is nothing we can't do._

_I still think..._

"Shut up!" I yelled out loud. "Geesh, get a life! We're doing the right thing!" I realized what I was doing. "Oh my Spirits, I'm arguing with myself. I've finally lost it."

I shook my head and focused on steering Appa. I was pushing him as hard as I could, and we still weren't any closer to Ba Sing Se.

"Come on Appa! We need to get to Ba Sing Se now!" I ordered Appa, who only snorted in response before going faster. "Good boy."

_I'm coming Katara. I'm going to save you. Everything is going to be alright._

* * *

**Bri's POV**

"Focus, concentrate on Aang. See him in your mind's eye," Roku instructed. Roku had Firebended the doors of the vault open and we were both meditating inside. Daylight was streaming in, bathing the room in a rich, golden glow. "Picture Aang clearly, his personality, his habits."

I opened my eyes a fraction. "Um, Roku, I just met him a couple days ago. I don't know anything about him."

"You know about him from your world, correct?"

"Yeah..."

"So think of him as you knew him from when you watched your television show."

"Finally! Someone knows about TV!"

"Brianna!"

"Sorry Roku."

I shut my eyes again and remembered when I was eight, watching Avatar: The Last Airbender for the first time. I remembered the way Aang laughed, his love for his friends, his determination to save the world. I remembered hours of scrolling through Avatar fan websites and pictures, especially Kataang ones. _So sue me! I'm a diehard Kataanger avatar freak! Get over it! _I focused on my favorite episode, The Crossroads of Destiny...

"Oh my gosh!" I screamed. "Azula! How could I forget about Azula?" _She's going to try to kill Aang! What am I going to do? I have to get back to Aang and warn him! _I began to stand, but then Roku pulled me back down.

"I'm sorry, but what are you screaming about Brianna? You should be focusing," Roku said sternly. "You can't leave until you connect with Aang!"

"Roku, I have to leave. NOW."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I just remembered this episode! This psychotic Fire Nation princess wacko is going to try to kill Aang in Ba Sing Se when he goes to rescue Katara! I have to go warn him!"

"Oh spirits," Roku gasped, his eyebrows shooting into his hairline.

"Please! I need to go!" I begged.

"But how are you supposed to find him? You need to connect now!"

Immediately, I closed my eyes and focused as hard as I could. I was taken over by darkness...

**In Bri's mind (A.N.: **[whatever is in this is going on in Bri's head]**)**

[I gasped and my eyes flew open. I was surrounded by black, there was no light, no way of escaping. I couldn't even see my own body. I began to hyperventilate. _I don't remember Roku mentioning this. What if I can never get out? What if I'm trapped here forever? What about Aang? He's going to die and its all my fault!_

Then, out of nowhere, a silver rope appeared. It stretched from right in front of my chest into the darkness, shining brightly. It hovered about three feet in the air, and I had a feeling that I should grab it. I clutched it tightly and found that it was surprisingly sturdy. Slowly moving forward, I kept my hands firmly on the rope. I had been walking for a while, holding the silver rope all the while, when I suddenly saw a light growing in the distance. Running now, I ran my hands along the silver rope to make sure that I got there safely. For some reason, I had this horrible feeling that if I let go of the rope, I would be lost forever. I shivered, but then I was filled with warmth as I was finally surrounded by the light.

I looked around and saw that there was nothing there, but the light, the silver rope, and me. I turned in circles, trying to see where I was.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" I called out. There was no response, not even an echo. "That's odd."

Just as I said that, the light went out, the silver rope disappeared, and I was shrouded in darkness again.

"No no no no no no," I muttered. "Not the darkness again, please!" I raised my voice. "I didn't mean that the light was odd! Really! I just thought it was odd that no one else was around!"

I felt a tap on my shoulder. "OHMYGOODGOLLYGOODNESS!" I screamed, and turned around to see what looked like a small boy. He was bald and wore monk clothing. Why does he look familiar...

"Aang?" I asked hesitantly. The little boy nodded happily and snapped his fingers. Where there was once darkness, there was now an Air Temple. Young Aang and I were standing in the courtyard and the silver rope disappeared.

"Am I in Aang's mind?" I asked Young Aang, who nodded enthusiastically again. _Geez, if he keeps that up his head will snap off. _"Who are you?"

"I'm Aang's innocence," Young Aang replied. He tugged on my hand. "Come on, you have to meet Aang!"

"What do you mean?" _What is it with Avatars and being confusing? _"I've already met Aang."

"No, you haven't." Young Aang tugged on my hand again and, relenting, I let him lead me into the Air Temple. We walked and walked and walked until we reached the Air Temple's vault.

"Aang is in there?" I asked skeptically. Young Aang nodded happily again. This time, I grabbed his head and forced it to stay still. "You'll hurt yourself if you keep doing that, alright?" Young Aang started to nod again, but then stopped himself and just gave me a thumbs up. "Ok, good." With that, Young Aang opened the door and we went inside.

"Woah," I said in awe, staring at the statues of the Avatars all around me. Young Aang raced off, leaving me alone. I wandered through the bottom floor of the vault, staring at all of the statues. When I came to stare at Roku's, I swore his eyes flashed at me. "Nice to see you again too."

"Bri!" Young Aang called out from behind me. I turned around and saw... Aang?

"Aang? What are you doing here?" _Now I'm officially confused._

"I am Aang's emotions," Aang said. "You need to connect with me in order to leave here."

"Do I have to kiss you? Cause I'm NOT doing that," I interjected, staring him down. "That's Katara's job, not mine."

Aang laughed, but then his he looked confused as he went over what I said. "What do you mean that's Katara's job?" His expression became hopeful. "I get to kiss her in the future?"

"You'll see," I said happily and Aang looked at me like I had just announced that Christmas would be happening five times this year. "Anyway, what is it that I need to do?"

"We just need to hold hands and concentrate."

"Good, because I'm leaving you for Katara."

"Are we really going to be together?" Aang practically bounced up and down from excitement.

"You'll see," I repeated, but this time I said it in a sing song way and Aang's smile lit up the whole room.

"Now," Aang instructed, getting us back on topic. "Place your hands on top of mine face down." I did as he said and we held hands. "Close your eyes and concentrate on the feeling of our connected hands."

I closed my eyes, and sure enough, when I focused on our hands, another silver rope appeared in my mind. I followed it and this time it led me straight to the emotions Aang.

"Welcome," he said smiling. "You are one with Aang's emotions. Now here comes the tricky part."

"Tricky part? What tricky part..." I began, but then immediately fell over as my stomach tightened in pain and I began to scream. Then the pain went away, but my chest tightened, as if with worry, and memories flashed before my closed eyelids. I saw Aang choosing Appa as his sky bison, his being freed from the iceberg, the attack at the North Pole, everything Aang has ever seen, heard, and experienced. Then, I got to what he was experiencing now.

"OHMYGOODGOLLYGOODNESS!" I panted. "He's on his way to save Katara now! He's with Iroh in the tunnels, which means he's almost there! I have to get to him now!" I pleaded with the Aangs. Emotions Aang reached down to help me up and the pain immediately subsided.

"You've survived the worst part, so now you are connected to Aang. You will need to repeat the process with him when you see him again, though you just need to hold hands with him like you did me."

"So I get the crappy Spirit World journey while he gets to hold my hands? Brilliant!" I muttered.

Emotions Aang laughed, but then his face darkened. "Come, we must send you back so that you can save us."

"I will save you," I promised. The Aangs nodded at me _(Dang it, I almost fixed Young Aang too...) _and the last thing I saw was their sad faces as the world faded to black.]

* * *

"Brianna? Brianna? Have you completed connecting with Aang? Brianna?"

"Ah!" I screamed, sitting up and startling Roku, who had been leaning over me as I was in the Spirit World. He jumped backwards, tripping over his long Fire Nation robe and collapsed onto the floor. "Sorry Roku." I got up and helped him up, trying (and failing) not laughing as I did so.

"Well, I assume you connected with Aang?" Roku asked, brushing imaginary dust off of his robe as he tried to draw attention away from his embarrassing moment.

"Yeah, I did!" I said excitedly. "But it was kind of creepy at times too, with the darkness everywhere." I shivered. "But I did it! So how do I track Aang now?"

"Just focus on Aang and you will follow your voice to Aang. There will also be some sort of other way of finding him, but it differs from person to person."

"Alright, seems simple enough." I closed my eyes yet again and focused on Aang. Immediately, I knew where I had to go. I opened my eyes and a silver vapor trail had appeared in front of me.

"Cool, silver vapor trail, nice! Now can you send me back so that I can save Aang?"

"I wish you good luck Brianna," Roku smiled at me. "I will be with you if you need me."

"Thanks Roku, for everything," I replied, hugging the Fire Avatar around the middle. I let go and then my head spun as I was transported back.

* * *

_I think I'm going to be sick._

That was the first thing I thought as I was transported back. At least last time I was falling to my death so I didn't notice anything but the terror, but now I got the whole bit: the churning stomach, the dizziness, and, of course, the darkness. _What is it with spirits, the Spirit World, and darkness? Can't they pay the electricity bill?_

After a few seconds, I felt my feet hit something hard. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that I was in the Gaang's house in Ba Sing Se. I saw the silver trail lead out the door and disappear around the corner.

"Come on Bri, you can do this. You have to save Aang," I muttered to myself as I raced out the door. I followed the trail all through Ba Sing Se until I found a secret entrance into the caves. I pushed on a brick three to the left and four down from the door knob and a stairway opened up from the wall, leading into the caves. I climbed down for what seemed like forever until I arrived in a huge open cavern.

Suddenly, everything was lit up in a sort of blue-white glow. _Oh no._

Sure enough, there was Aang, tattoos glowing brightly as he entered the Avatar State. _I'm too late._ I took in my surroundings: I was behind Aang, behind some large crystal formations. I could see Azula climbing up behind him as she prepared to strike. I couldn't see Katara, Iroh, and Zuko, but I knew that they were battling somewhere inside the cavern. I focused on Azula, sneaking up behind her as she was about to attack Aang.

"Hey Azzy," I shouted, getting Azula's attention as I stepped out into the open, about 20 feet away from her.

She whipped around me, her glare murderous. "How dare you call me such a name? How dare you ruin my chances of a surprise attack? You shall pay peasant!"

"Please," I snorted. "Who in their right mind calls anyone peasant? And as for attacking Aang, you won't do anything to him while I'm here."

"Alright peasant," Azula sneered. "I will enjoy crushing you into the ground before taking out the Avatar." She charged me, sending blue fire from her fingertips as she did. I dodged to the side and then brought my sword up, cutting a small gash in her cheek. She stumbled away, surprised to have lost blood so soon.

"Aw Azzy," I said, shaking my head. "I thought that this would be harder. Shocked that I, a 'peasant', drew first blood?"

Her face contorted into that of pure rage. "You will pay!" She created huge fire wings spreading from her back and surrounded us both, creating a sore of fire tornado, with us both in the center. She began to shoot tiny fire daggers from all around and I had to keep moving in order to dodge all of them. Azula began cackling madly. _I knew she was crazy, but it's entirely different seeing it in person._

I got an idea. I stepped in front of Azula, with five or so feet in between us. I waited until a fire dagger came hurtling towards me from right in front of me then hit the ground. I heard an angry roar and turned on my back to see Azula clutching her arm, which had been burned by the dagger.

"What? How can this be?" She shrieked, delirious. A sly grin appeared on her face. _Uh-oh. _Her gaze turned to Aang, who was floating in the air ten feet above and three feet to the right of the top of Azula's fire ring. A sudden burst of lightning came from nowhere and suddenly hit Aang.

A huge pain erupted in my back, making me scream in pain. I fell to the ground, arching my back, unable to cope with the pain. I collapsed and passed out cold on the ground.

* * *

"She will be very useful to us Father," a cold voice slid through my consciousness. I groggily opened my eyes and tried to move, only to find that my arms and legs were chained to a wall. In front of me, I saw Azula talking with a man shrouded in shadow. _What did she call him? Father?_

"No, it can't be," I whispered, my voice cracking from dehydration. Azula's head whipped over to me and a sick smile appeared. "Father, she's awake!"

Azula walked over to me, the man in shadow following her and coming into the light. _Firelord Ozai! _The Firelord was even more terrifying than I imagined. He practically glowed with evil, his aura burning a deep black. Azula's aura, a red-black-brown mixture (angry, evil, insane), seemed pale in comparison. His eyes were filled with dark secrets and had not one iota of compassion in them. This man would make Hitler, Attila the Hun, and Dracula all run screaming for their mothers and have nightmares for the rest of their lives about the cold amber eyes staring into mine.

"So, our prisoner has finally returned to the world of the living," his silky smooth voice slid through the air like poison. I shivered involuntarily, and he laughed evilly. "Scared are you? You should be grateful. You would have died if not for us healing you. You see, your friends left you for dead."

"What are you talking about?" I wheezed. "Aang would never leave me!"

"But the Avatar was taken out by my daughter's lightning, remember?" Ozai said with a hint of pride, if you count a hint as 1/1,000,000,000,000 of his voice. "The Waterbender left you for dead in order to care to the Avatar."

"No, that can't be," I whispered, not believing him. _Katara would never do that. _Then I remembered how mean she had been to me, how she always thought that I was out to get Aang. _Maybe she did leave me..._

"No," my voice echoed around my cell, surprisingly strong. "She wouldn't do that."

"Whether you choose to believe it or not, that is the reality," Ozai said sharply. His face contorted into one of sick pleasure. "Welcome to the Fire Nation, prisoner." He laughed cruelly and swept out of my cell, Azula trailing behind him. It wasn't until after I heard the metal door slam that the tears tried to fall, but in my dehydration I couldn't do anything but shake. My throat began to close and I struggled to breathe. _I'm going to be stuck here forever. Aang is close to death and I can't do anything to help him. It's over for me. _With that, I fell into an uneasy sleep, dreaming of hard amber eyes and the slight rocking, as if I was on a boat.

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**Hope you guys liked the chapter! I made it longer, so yay! Also, please go over the chapters before this, as they have been edited.**

**Please please please please please please please please review! It will make me the happiest person ever! *begs with puppy dog eyes***


	7. No Escape

**Ok guys, in this chapter, there will be mentions of torture and there will be a death, so be warned.**

**Also, I would like to give a great big thank you to Mr. animefan for all of his awesome reviews! They really make me happy because I know what you liked and didn't like about each chapter.**

**Also again, I'm writing an American Dragon: Jake Long story. It's Jake/OC, so I'm excited about that. If you haven't seen the show already, you have to watch it! It's AWESOME! Not as awesome as Avatar, but still awesome. All of the episodes are on YouTube, so go watch them now! After you read this, of course. :)**

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Never have, never will. I don't want to keep saying this since you all know that I don't own Avatar, so the disclaimer is implied from now on, even if I don't actually type it out.**_

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**Bri's POV**

"Answer me girl: where is the Avatar?" Ozai's sharp voice cut through the dank air of my cell.

"I keep telling you, I don't know," I whispered, my voice cracking from dehydration. "Please, let me go. I can't tell you anything."

_SLAP! _The sound rang through the room. My head whipped to the side, my cheek stinging in pain. I tried to raise my hand to dull the pain, but my chains prevented me from raising my hands above my thin shoulders.

It has been three weeks since I had been captured by the Fire Nation. Three long, grueling, torturous weeks. I had all but lost hope that Aang and the others were coming to rescue me. In fact, I was sure they were all living their lives as if I had never existed, with Katara encouraging the behavior. What is her deal anyway? She was my favorite character on the show and I was so excited about meeting her, but no! She had to hate me for no reason at all!

I'm positive that I'm going to die here. I've given up all hope of escaping, as my cell was in the Fire Nation prison that no one had ever escaped from. Lucky me: I got the highest security cell. Woop-dee-do. Plus, I can't remember anything about where the Aang and the others are, and even if I did I wouldn't tell Ozai. I may be pissed at them, but I won't betray them to a psychopath like Ozai and Azzy.

_Azzy. _I smiled slightly. Azula hates the nickname so much that it has become a sort of game for me to see how riled up I could get her before the torturing started. It may make it worse, but it gives me some satisfaction to know that she's not the cool and cruel Ice Queen that everyone believes her to be. It also helps keep her mind off of finding Aang. My chest grew heavy at the thought of the injured Airbender. I knew what he was going through. The pain from Azula's lightning was like a thousand burning knives into my back, the pain causing me to black out. I shivered at the memory. I never wanted to feel that sort of pain ever again. It didn't help that I knew it was going to happen and didn't prevent it. The guilt would crash into me in waves at the least expected times. The only thing that made it go away was the fact that Aang managed to get away and that Ozai and Azula still couldn't find him, no matter how hard they tried. It gave me some satisfaction, but I knew eventually they would find them, I just had to prevent it at all means possible.

"Tell us, peasant, or things will only get worse from here," Azula snarled at me, baring her teeth.

I gave a wheezy, tired laugh. "I keep telling you, I don't know. If you ask me again, I'll say the same thing. If you ask me in an hour, I still won't know. I'm stuck in here, how am I supposed to know where they are?" At that, Azula's eyes light up in inspiration. _That can't be good._

"You're right," she said slowly. "But if we let you go, you could lead us right to them." She began to pace back and forth in front of me, working through her plan.

"Brilliant Azula," Ozai breathed. "She could lead us right to the Avatar; they would never expect a friend to betray them."

"That's because she won't." Ozai gave a slight twitch at my voice and Azula stopped pacing, but that was the only response I got. "I won't betray Aang and lead you to him."

"You won't have a choice," Azula snapped. "We will find everyone that you love, anyone that just innocently passed you by in the street and kill them all unless you help us."

"You do realize that I don't have any loved ones?" I asked, weakly raising an eyebrow in a meek show of defiance. "Your plan will never work."

"Well then," Azula said coldly. "We'll just have to go with someone you passed on the street." She snapped her fingers, and two guards came in, dragging what looked to be a struggling girl about six or seven years old. She was trying desperately to escape, but the guards' grips were too strong. When her eyes met mine, pure fear stared back at me.

"Let her go," I begged. "She didn't do anything to you. Please! I don't know where Aang is, you have to believe me!"

"Well, I don't," Azula hissed. "So what's it going to be? The Avatar or this little girl?" The girl whimpered, and the next second a sword was pressed up against her throat.

I stared in horror at Azula. _What kind of twisted person would do this? Azula, I guess. _I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, focusing on my bond with Aang. _I'm so sorry Aang, but I have to do this. _I focused on our bond, and then got lost in a darkness...

I could feel a sense of rocking, like I was on a boat. Aang seemed to be asleep, but I could hear people talking around him.

"Is he going to be alright?" came Katara's worried voice. "He hasn't woken up in weeks! My healing doesn't seem to be working either."

"He'll be alright Katara," Sokka said soothingly. "He's one tough guy, he'll make it through this."

"I hope so," Katara said softly. "I don't know what I would do without him."

"So tell me again what happened?" Sokka's voice took on an odd tone, as if he knew something that Katara didn't.

"Well," Katara said slowly. "Aang, Iroh, and I were fighting the Dai Li, Azula, and Zuko," I heard her voice hitch on Zuko's name. Inwardly, I cringed. _Ugh, Zutara, yuck! _"Aang went into the Avatar State and Azula created this huge fire column thing and then attacked Aang with lightning. He went down, and I escaped with him while Iroh kept everyone else occupied."_  
_

_Wait, what about me? Why didn't she mention me? Probably because she didn't want Sokka to see her as a horrible person for leaving her behind. _I almost snorted, but then I remembered what I had come to do.

"So Bri wasn't there?" Sokka asked.

"I didn't see her," Katara replied.

"That's so weird," Sokka commented. "She seemed really devoted to protecting Aang. I don't think that she would leave him to die. Do you think something happened to her?"

"I don't know," Katara admitted. "But I hope she's alright." She said that part softly, as if she didn't want Sokka to hear her.

"You hope she's alright?" Sokka asked, surprised. I guess he did hear her. "You hate her! Why do you care if she's alright?"

"I know I've been mean to her, but I didn't really mean it. My anger at Jet just made me hate her too, just because they were together. Even after he died, I couldn't stand the thought of her, all because she had been with Jet. It was so stupid of me, but I took it out on her anyway. And if something has happened to her, I'll never forgive myself, because I know that she probably hates me." Katara said crying. I heard a shuffle, as if Sokka had moved over to her.

I felt my heart break. _I never knew that was how she felt. I feel like such a horrible person now. Maybe there's someway I can contact them... _I focused on Aang's mouth and tried to get it to move. "Katara."

I heard a loud banging noise, as if someone, probably Sokka, had fallen into something and knocked it over. I heard movement to my right side. "Aang?" said Katara from next to me.

"No, Bri," I made Aang say. I heard Katara suck in a breath and Sokka move to come her. "I'm so sorry Katara. I wish we could have a do over; I know that we would have been good friends."

"How are you doing this?" Katara asked, amazed. "And I'm the one who needs to apologize. I've been so horrible to you..."

"It's alright,"I cut her off. "I heard your conversation with Sokka. I understand why you acted the way you did. As for talking through Aang, Roku connected us together, emotionally and physically."

There was a pause as they absorbed this. "Wait," Sokka said slowly. "If you're connected physically, does that mean that you felt it when Azula attacked Aang?"

I didn't reply, giving them their answer. I heard Katara gasp and clap her hands over her mouth.

"It doesn't matter now," I said hurriedly. "Azula and Ozai are trying to find you. You guys have to stay hidden."

"We're fine," Sokka replied. "But how do you know that?"

I didn't answer, trying to find a way to put it gently. "I'm kind of trapped at their headquarters?"

"You're what?" Katara yelled, and I heard Sokka fall again. "How did you get there?"

"I remembered that Azula was going to try to kill Aang, so I raced back to Ba Sing Se and we fought. That was the large fire column that you saw. But Azula still managed to shoot down Aang with her lightning, and I went down with him. The next thing I knew, I woke up in a Fire Nation cell."

"You were there?" Katara said hoarsely. "I left you to die?" I heard the mattress squeak, and knew that she had sat down on Aang's bed.

"It's okay Katara," I said soothingly. "You didn't know I was there, it's not your fault."

"Yes, it is," she said quietly. "I should have known you were there. I should have gotten you out of there too."

"Katara, listen to me," I said sternly. "If there is ever a choice between Aang and me, you always choose Aang. ALWAYS. That goes for you too Sokka, and Toph and everyone else as well. Aang is too important to be left behind. Katara, if you had tried to get both Aang and me out of there, then all three of us would have been captured. Aang never would have been able to go through Azula for as long as I have..." I cut off, inwardly cursing myself. _Stupid! Why did you tell them about Azula?_

"Azula's torturing you?" Sokka asked, horrified. "We have to come and get you."

"No, she's not torturing me," I said firmly. "I haven't been injured, only hungry. You will leave me here. I will do my best to lead her away from you guys, but you cannot risk everything to come and get me, do you understand?"

There was a moment of silence. "Alright, I won't come and get you alone," Sokka said, resigned.

"I need to hear it from you too Katara."

"I won't come and get you alone," she said softly.

"Good, now how's Aang doing? He feels really weak," I began, but then I was cut away from Aang and opened my eyes, gasping with breath as I realized that I was back in my own body.

"Where is the Avatar?" Azula hissed, squatting down in front of me and grasping my chin with her hand.

I took a deep breath. "Whaletail Island," I whispered, my voice not betraying my lie.

Azula walked right up to me, so that only an inch was separating us. Her cold amber eyes, a perfect replica of her fathers, bored into my emerald ones, checking to see if I was lying. I held her gaze, and the staring match continued for a couple more seconds until Azula broke contact.

"She is telling the truth Father," Azula said smugly. _Wow, she really isn't good at this._ "May we go and fetch the Avatar now?"

"Take your best forces with you," Ozai ordered. "And bring the Avatar back alive. I want the pleasure of defeating him myself."

"Yes Father," Azula replied, bowing. She turned to the little girl and waved her hand, "You're dismissed." Immediately, the little girl bowed to her and all pretense of fear faded. She walked away stiffly, and then ran out of the cell.

_What? _My confusion must have been evident on my face, as Azula said, "It's amazing what you can accomplish if you threaten someone's family. She did so well, didn't she? Your poor, weak heart was filled with compassion," she said with a sneer, her lip curling in disgust. "And you just had to help her." She turned back to me, a sick smile on her face. "It's amazing what one will do for love, isn't it?" With that, she waved her hand and all of the guards followed her out of the cell, so that only Ozai was left in the cell with me. He stared at me, and I looked away, unable to keep eye contact. I felt his gaze linger on me for a few more seconds, then he turned and walked out of the cell, locking the door behind him.

"There will be no escape for you," Ozai said from outside the cell. "Even if we do capture the Avatar, you are never leaving this place again." With that, he walked away, taking his cold, evil presence with him.

I sank to the floor, or as close to the floor as I could get with my chains. I fought the urge to break down and cry, but no matter how hard I tried, the tears began to fall. I cried and cried and cried, for Aang, Katara, Sokka, and everyone else who was with them, and for all those who had been done wrong by the Fire Nation.

I hiccuped, and bent my head down to my shirt to try to wipe away the tears. At that moment, I vowed that Azula and Ozai would pay for what they have done, not just to me. They would pay for every life they have ended, every tear that has been shed over their deeds. Oh yes, they would pay, and I was going to make sure of it.

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**Kind of short chapter, but I will make it longer. I had serious writer's block on this chapter, so I apologize if it doesn't live up to your standards.**** I hope everyone is having a great summer vacation!**

**Read and Review! They make me happy!**


	8. Turns Out, There is an Escape After All

**Hey everyone!**

**I want to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited (turns out favorited isn't a word, go figure) this story. It means so much to me and I love reading all the reviews! They make me so happy and I am glad you guys love this story!**

**Also, I know that Aang was only unconscious for about three weeks, but I made it longer because Bri is in the cell for a while.**

**Most importantly, I was looking up Avatar stories earlier today and saw that there is another Avatar story called From Our World to Theirs. I had absolutely NO idea that another story had this name and I SWEAR that I didn't copy it. The name of this story will remain From Our World to Theirs until I can think of a better, and hopefully unique, title, so be on the lookout for a new title! If you guys have an idea, leave a review or PM me. I would love to see what ideas you guys have and if I love it, I will use it as the title!**

**On that note, let's get started! Read on!**

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**Bri's POV**

The days turned to weeks, and still Azula never returned. The only visitors to my cell were the rats the crawled along the floor and the occasional guard or two that delivered my meal every one or two days. The dismal atmosphere had worsened, if possible, to a dingy, hopeless despair. I knew no one was coming for me; the small shred of hope that had formed when I talked to Katara and Sokka was rapidly depleting as the days went by.

I sighed, and tried to move my arms to get circulation. A rat by my foot made a startled squeak, and rushed away into the shadows.

_Why can't I do that? Just disappear into the shadows and escape this horrible place_. I sighed again and tugged halfheartedly on my chains; I knew that no matter how hard I tried I wouldn't be able to break loose, the chains were just to tight.

I cast my gaze around what I had called home these horrible weeks. Across the room was a large iron door, with bars about a foot apart from each other covering the top half. There was a small iron flap, like a dog door but iron, that the guards used to slip my food in and out. This was the only time I was allowed out of my chains, because the guards thought that it was beneath them to be near a Fire Nation rebel unless necessary. One of them would unlock my chains and then keep watch from about five feet away while I ate.

The walls were made of a type of smooth, hard, gray-black stone. They rocks were sealed together with a sort of concrete, but there were occasional edges that stuck out from the wall. The edges were deadly sharp, as the gashes in my back proved. There was a small window above my head, so that a minimal amount of light was allowed to get through. Most of the time, however, the cell was shrouded in darkness, except around noon when the sun was at its peak.

I was directly across from the iron door, my hands and feet bound in solid metal chains. My feet barely touched the ground and the closest my feet got to touching each other was when they lined up with my shoulders. My wrists were bound with the chains as well, and I could only lower them to about halfway between the distance from my shoulders and my side and I could only raise my hands to shoulder level.

The floor was the same stone as the walls, though it was completely smooth with no edges poking out. The rats would climb in through the gaps in the bars and slither across the floor, hissing and squeaking all the while. Sometimes they would approach me, but a well aimed kick here and there kept them away for a while, but they would just keep coming back. They seemed to know when I was weak and would move closer. One time, I fell asleep and I woke up with one of them on my foot.

I thought about my family, friends, everything that I had left behind when I came to this world. I had tried my hardest not to think about it, to try to make the pain go away, but they would creep into my thoughts and the pain would just keep coming. I thought of Jeremy, with his cute blue eyes and easygoing attitude. I thought of Alana, my best friend, the one who was always there for me. Heck, I even thought about my annoying and rude science teacher, Mr. Norris. But the person I thought about most was my mom. I wish that I had a chance to fix our relationship. I used her working all the time as an excuse to not get to know her, or spend time with her; I just wish that I could do it all over and just learn who she is.

Filled with thoughts of home, I slumped against the wall and fell into an uneasy sleep, dreaming of an escape and warm chocolate eyes.

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"Bri, wake up," a voice whispered. I ignored it, and tried to fall back asleep. _Leave me alone, let me go back home, back where everything is alright..._

"Holy crap," I yelled as cold water was poured on me. My back arched and my head knocked against the cold wall. Muttering under my breath, I waited for my vision to clear and I saw two Fire Nation soldiers standing in front of me. One of them put their hand over my mouth and I tried to pry it off, only to find my hands couldn't reach that far in front of me. I simmered with rage; why couldn't they just leave me alone?

"Bri, it's alright, it's me, Sokka," the one on the right whispered, the one holding a metal bucket that had most likely been holding water a few seconds ago, and removed the front of his helmet so that his face showed. The one on the left quickly removed part of her helmet as well and Katara's face appeared.

"Sokka? Katara? What are you doing here?" I whispered, my voice cracking with relief. My heart began to beat with hope. _I'm going to get out. _But then a horrible thought crossed my mind. "You can't be here! What if you get caught?"

"We won't get caught," Sokka said soothingly. "We've been undercover for days, trying to find out where you were; no one knows we're here."

"How did you even find me?" I asked, staring into their eyes.

This time, Katara answered me. "We didn't, actually. We just snuck aboard a Fire Nation merchant ship, in disguise of course, and asked one of the crew members what the highest security prison was: the Boiling Rock. Once we heard that, we stole Fire Nation soldier disguises and traveled here. We waited a few days and managed to piece together enough overheard conversations to figure out that you were being held in this cell. We waited for the right opportunity to help you escape, and here we are." Katara shivered. "How did you survive here? This place is horrible!"

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "I thought for sure that I was going to die."

"You're not going to die," Sokka said firmly. "Now come on, let's get you out of here." He pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked my cuffs. I immediately fell to the ground, my muscles not used to being used after weeks of being held up by the chains. Katara moved to catch me, and I landed heavily on her.

"Sorry," I mumbled as I tried to get my leg muscles to work.

"It's alright," Katara assured me. "You're actually pretty light." Her expression darkened when she remembered why I was so skinny.

"Remember the plan?" Sokka asked Katara, who nodded.

"What is the plan?" I asked nervously.

"We're going to walk out of the prison," Sokka said simply.

"What? And you think that that is going to work?" I asked incredulously. _Sokka is out of his mind._

"Trust me, it'll work," he assured me. I nodded my head hesitantly, still not believing it. "Just play along." With that, Sokka grabbed my right arm and Katara grabbed my left. I bit back a hiss as my arms burned in pain. With their other hands, Sokka and Katara replaced their masks and dragged me out of the cell.

I let my body go limp as we traveled through dozens of tunnels, passageways, and corridors before we encountered our first guard. We were traveling down a narrow passageway when a huge guard came around a corner and blocked the rest of the passageway. "Where are you going with the prisoner?"

"She is being moved to a more secure location," Sokka lied easily, making his voice gruffer and lower to disguise his voice. "The Fire Lord wishes for her to be more accessible to him."

The guard nodded in response and stepped back the way he came to allow us to pass. Sokka nodded his head to him and we continued down the passageway.

We navigated the labyrinth of tunnels for what felt like hours before we finally arrived into open air. I took a deep breath, expecting for the air to be cool and fresh, but I began to cough as I inhaled damp, humid, and, well, boiling air.

"See why they call it the Boiling Rock now?" Sokka whispered to me as I took in the surroundings. I could only nod as Katara and Sokka pulled me over to the cable car that would take us away from this horrible place. Sokka and Katara dropped me onto one of the seats and then Sokka left to go talk to the guard in charge so that we could leave.

"I really am sorry," Katara whispered. I stared at her, not getting what she meant at first, but then realization dawned as I remembered our last conversation.

"It's okay Katara," I said. "I forgave you. There's nothing to worry about. If anyone should be sorry, it's me. I never really gave you a chance."

"Why don't we just start over?" Katara said softly. "We could try that do over you wanted."

I smiled weakly at her. "I'd like that." With that, Sokka came bounding back in. He removed his face mask and smiled at us. "You guys ready to leave?"

I nodded enthusiastically and smiled so hard if felt like my face was going to split. Katara laughed, and then the cable car lurched as we began our journey across the Boiling Lake. I sat back against the seats and closed my eyes. _I'm finally leaving._

We were about halfway across when the cable car gave a violent lurch and we stopped moving. I sat up and then bit back a hiss as my legs protested. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," Katara said. "But it can't be good." We all stood up and stared at the boarding platform. There was a slight commotion and then one of the guards raced over to the lever controlling the cable car. He pulled it, and we began to move back towards the prison.

"Nononononono," I whimpered, and began to mess with my fingers out of stress. "I can't go back, I just can't."

"Everything will be alright," Sokka said soothingly. "I'll get us through this. Everything will be fine." I only nodded, and then sat back as we got closer.

When we screeched to a halt back at the boarding platform, Fire Nation soldiers filled the cable car and formed a semi-circle around our group. A man with a sort of.. crown? clip? something on his head stepped forward.

"Where do you think you are going?" He asked Sokka coldly, who stood up uncertainly.

"We were told to take the prisoner to a more secure location," he said, his voice only shaking slightly with nerves. The strange man peered into his eyes, and I swore I saw something spark in his eyes before he stepped away. I read his aura, which was a red-orange, then lime, then gray. Going through the colors in my head, I realized that that meant shock, disbelief, and then... cunning? Is that even an emotion? I searched for his intent, only to realize what he was about to do...

"Katara," I whispered to her out of the side of my mouth. "He knows who you two are. He's going to force escorts to follow us! We have to get rid of them somehow!" Katara gave an slight nod and then coughed lightly. All eyes swiveled to her and she gave an apologetic shrug. That must have been a signal to Sokka, because the next moment he was taking out soldiers left and right. Katara bended some of the boiling water out of the lake and attacked the lead man in the crown. I managed to pick up a sword from on of the unconscious soldiers that Sokka defeated and did pretty well taking out soldiers in my weakened state. Suddenly, a siren began to wail as we took out the last of the soldiers. I saw more soldiers pouring out of the prison and yelled, "Come on! We have to go!" Sokka nodded, and together we all managed to kick or drag all of the soldiers off of the cable car. Sokka threw a helmet at the lever and it jammed. We rode across the wire, watching silently as the soldiers stared helplessly at us, unable to stop our escape. I clutched the sword in my hand, using it as a crutch. It wasn't as good as my old sword, but it would have to do.

When we reached the unloading platform, Sokka knocked out the guard standing watch and we snuck down to a beach at the base of the island. We turned a corner and saw...

"Appa!" I yelled happily, fast walking over to the giant sky bison. I hugged his head and he snorted in response. "I missed you too!" He licked me and I laughed happily. I turned and saw Katara and Sokka watching me, their helmets and armor removed. I walked silently over to them and hugged them both tightly. I cried softly as I said, "Thank you for getting me out."

I felt them both nod and then their arms wrapped around me. We stayed like that for a while, until Sokka let go. I sniffed and looked blearily up at him, hurrying to dry my eyes. He broke out in a smile as he said, "Ready to go?" I smiled and climbed on top of Appa, lying contentedly on the giant sky bison's back. Sokka and Katara followed, and together we flew off into the sunset.

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******This does NOT take place during the Boiling Rock episode, so none of the other prisoners, like Suki, Katara and Sokka's dad, etc, are not their because the invasion has NOT taken place yet. I just wanted to clear that up.**

**Read and Review!**


	9. Update

**Hey everyone!**

**Okay, so I was reading all of the reviews for the last chapter, and I decided to rewrite it. When I was writing, I didn't really like it, but I still wrote it anyway. I wasn't very happy with it, but I thought, "What else am I going to do?" But when I saw your guys' reviews, I realized that I should have put more effort into these last two chapters.**

**I took out the torture and the little girl's death, but she still is in there. I didn't want to have to change the rating to M and I really didn't like having the torture in my story. I'm sorry Mr. animefan, but I just didn't like having the torture in there, even if I was one of the few people to write in something like that.**

**I hope you guys like the new edited version and aren't mad at me.**

**Let me know what you think of the new chapter, and remember that all torture was taken out of No Escape.**

**I'm also very sorry to say that I'm not going to be writing the next chapter for a while. I'm not that excited anymore about writing this story and it's not fair to you guys if I'm not putting a good effort into this story. I will continue and finish this story, but it may be a while before the next chapter is posted. I really want to get excited about Avatar again, but right now it isn't happening. I'm so sorry everyone. Please forgive me.**

**-TigerChik1242**


	10. New Connections, Old Enemies

**I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've updated (Happy 1 Month and a Day Anniversary!). I just needed to take a break and get myself psyched about Avatar again. Now that I am, I hope you guys aren't too mad at me and that you will like this chapter! *dodges a vase* Ok then... I gave you a longish chapter, so please don't kill me!**

**Also, from this moment on, my story will NOT be like the show. I mean, I know I had the whole Bri in prison thing, but now it is official that most of the events in the show will not happen, except for the obvious, like Aang defeating the Fire Lord and Aang and Katara FINALLY getting together.**

**Thirdly, this was always be told from Bri's POV from now on. I know it has been for a while, so it will automatically be told from Bri's POV unless I change it, like saying, "Zuko's POV" (which there will be some in the later chapters, yay!).**

**Fourthly (is that even a word?), there is one cuss word in this chapter. ONE. It's at the end for anyone who cares.**

* * *

"Freedom!" I yelled, flinging my arms out. The wind rushed past my face and my hair flew in all directions. The strands whipped around me, successfully knotting my hair beyond repair. I smiled. _Hey, that rhymed: knotting my hair beyond repair. _I giggled like a madwoman, drunk on my freedom. I pumped my fists in the air. "Woo hoo! Yeah!"

Behind me, I could hear Katara laughing to herself. Sokka, who was driving, laughed out loud. I collapsed back on to Appa's fur, reveling in the feeling of flying through the air, free as a bird. I let out a content sigh and closed my eyes, imaging with glee what Azzy would say when she realized that I had escaped. I could just see her eyes widening in anger, her face turning a sickly purple-red color. The vein on her forehead would pop and bulge while Azula went off into a rage. I almost felt bad for the guards, _almost._

"How long until we get there?" I asked Sokka, sitting up. I crossed my legs together Indian style.

"We should be there before night falls," Sokka said, rubbing the back of his head as he calculated the distance. "Actually, we should be there sooner than that. About two more hours?" Sokka asked Katara, who just shrugged. I stared at the sun in the distance; it was about to start sinking beneath the sea.

"How could we be there in two hours?" I questioned, confused. "We won't even be out of the Fire Nation in two hours if I remember everything correctly.

Sokka shifted uncomfortably. "About that..."

"Please tell me we aren't staying in the Fire Nation," I begged Sokka, a horrible feeling growing in my stomach. His aura turned a guilty blue-purple and he shifted uncomfortably. I turned my gaze to Katara, who looked away. "No, I can't stay here. I have to get out of this horrible place." I hugged my knees to my chest, my nails digging into my knees. I squeezed tighter, trying to rid myself of those horrible weeks in the prison.

"Aang is in the Fire Nation," Katara said quietly, coming up behind me. "You want to see him, don't you?"

My head shot up. "Aang is in the Fire Nation?" My voice squeaked on the last word. "Why on earth is he in the Fire Nation? He could be found and then served up to Ozai on a silver platter!"

"We have him hidden on a Fire Navy ship," Katara explained, rubbing circles on my back to try to calm me down. "He's perfectly safe. We took it over and so far no one has suspected us."

I sucked in a breath as my memory of the show came back. "I remember that. Aang woke up and freaked out because he didn't realize that it was you guys in control of the ship. There was another ship..." I gasped. "Another ship found you out! We have to get back before that happens!"

"On it," Sokka said. "Yip yip!" Appa roared and there was a lurch as he sped up. I kept my eyes trained on the horizon, searching for the Fire Navy ship. I gripped Appa's fur tightly, winding my fingers through the coarse fur. _Please don't let us be too late._

* * *

"There it is!" I shouted, making out a blob in the distance. I grabbed Katara's hand and yanked her up next to me. "That is it, right?"

"Yeah, it is," Katara said gently, rubbing her sore wrist without complaint. I immediately felt guilty. "Sorry Katara. I'm just excited."

"It's alright," she replied, waving her hand. "We'll be there soon enough; everything will be fine. We'll warn the others and everything will go smoothly. Trust me." She smiled and the worry in my chest faded slightly. I sighed and leaned back so that I was staring at the sky. I felt Katara lean down next to me and together we took in the silence, not saying anything, just lying together, enjoying the peace.

"Incoming!" Sokka yelled, causing Katara and I to sit up abruptly. Appa was hurtling towards the deck of the ship, showing no intentions of slowing down anytime soon.

"Ahh!" Katara and I screamed, grabbing each other as we shut our eyes. I braced for impact, but we never collided with anything. I cracked my eyes open and saw that Appa had landed safely on deck, quiet as a mouse. I glared at Sokka, who only shrugged. I rolled my eyes and elbowed Katara, who opened her eyes as well. "Sokka!"

Sokka shrugged again and slid off Appa and on to the deck. Katara and I followed his example and landed with a soft _thump! _I searched the deck, but didn't see anyone. The worried feeling in my chest grew larger as more time passed and no one showed up. "Are we on the right ship?"

"I'm positive this is our ship," Sokka said uncertainly. I suppressed another eye roll as I searched for any auras hiding in the shadows. The deck groaned as someone made their way up the stairs and I tensed, grasping my sword tighter. Sokka and I got into battle stances while Katara bended some water up from the sea. We all stared at the hole in the deck, ready at any second to pounce on the unsuspecting crew man. First, the spikes on the helmet appeared, then a mask, then finally the whole soldier was visible. I lunged forward, about to make contact, when Katara shouted, "Bri, wait!"

My sword stopped inches from the soldier's chest and I whipped around. "What?" I barely managed to keep the annoyance out of my voice.

Katara shoved past me. "He's a friend!" She hugged the man tightly and when the soldier removed his face mask, I realized that it was her dad, Hakoda. I leaned on my sword awkwardly. _Wow, I almost just skewered Katara's dad. _Katara seemed to be feeling the awkwardness too, because she stepped back from her father and shuffled backwards. "Bri, this is my father, Hakoda, chief of the Northern Water Tribe" she said, motioning to her father. "Dad, this is Brianna Harris, the girl I was telling you about."

"Ah!" Hakoda said, his eyes lighting with recognition. "I've heard so much about you!" I stuck my hand out, but then stiffened in surprise when Hakoda ignored my hand completely and pulled me into a rib-crushing hug. I hesitantly returned the gesture and Hakoda gave me a light squeeze before letting go and smiling widely at me. I couldn't help but smile back; Hakoda was one of those people whose good moods you couldn't resist. I could tell that I liked him already. His happy yellow aura just screamed, "I'm a good person! Let's go save some endangered animals!"

"Well," Katara interrupted. "I hate to break up this cozy little gathering, but we need to go see Aang." With that, she pushed me by the shoulders down the steps and down several hallways. I didn't even have a chance to say, "Nice to meet you!" to Hakoda before he disappeared from sight. I dug my feet into the ground and turned around to stare at Katara. I raised my eyebrows in question, but she avoided my gaze. She wordlessly turned me around again and continued pushing me through the corridors. I sighed, but vowed to ask her later after we saw Aang.

"Aang!" I cried, running over to the Airbender. He smiled brightly at me and hopped off of the bed he was sitting on. He winced slightly, but hugged me tightly anyway. "I'm so glad to see you!"

"I'm glad to see you too!" Aang glanced over my shoulder and I felt his emotions skyrocket. "Katara!"

I bit back a smile and watched as Aang and Katara embraced. _Aw,_ _Kataang moment! Best. Couple. EVER! _Both of their auras glowed pink, but Katara's was a little lighter, showing that she felt more friendship towards Aang than the love he felt towards her. I sighed. _Why can't we just skip to the end where they kiss and Katara realizes how stupid she was for not kissing Aang sooner? I mean, hello! Perfect couple alert!_

Eventually Katara and Aang stopped hugging and Aang turned towards me. "While I was, um, sleeping, I had this feeling of you being there. Why is that?"

"I just took control of your body for a couple minutes, no big deal," I said nonchalantly.

"You did WHAT?" Aang shouted, his eyes practically popping out of his head.

"It's true," Katara told him. "Sokka and I spoke to her; that's how we knew that she was being held prisoner. We left soon after that to go rescue her."

"Fall asleep for a few short weeks and everything goes crazy," Aang muttered and kicked the floor with his foot, almost like he was sulking for missing out. Katara and I laughed and Aang smiled sheepishly. "How did you do it anyway?"

"Avatar Roku helped me connect with your emotions, which reminds me," I told him, making him sit down on the floor. I unclipped my sword and its sheath from my belt and laid it on the floor. "We need to get you to connect with me."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Aang asked, surprised. "I don't have the powers you do."

"You're the Avatar!" I said exasperatedly. "You can do things I can't even dream of doing! Besides, we're already connected through what I did with Roku, so it shouldn't be that hard. By the way," I glared sternly at him. "You have a nodding problem."

"A nodding problem?"

"A nodding problem."

"Ok," Aang trailed off and stared at me like I had two heads. Katara was staring at me too, but just shrugged and moved to go guard the doorway.

I sighed deeply. "Never mind. Just focus and take my hands so that yours are face down on top of mine. Focus on the way our hands feel, how they are connected."

I heard Aang's breathing slow and cracked my eyes open to see his tattoos glowing. Katara stood behind him, her eyes open wide with wonder as she stared at Aang.

"Do you see anything in your mind?"

"I see," he said slowly. "A golden rope."

"Good," I said calmly. "Now grab on to it and move forward. You should connect with me soon." Inside my head, I could feel a force pushing lightly from the outside. I relaxed, and I felt a presence flow inside my head. In my mind's eye, I saw Aang, spinning around in circles as the rope disappeared. Almost as if by instinct, I closed my eyes and sent the personification of my emotions to meet him.

"Hi Aang!" Emotions Bri said happily. "Welcome to Bri's mind!"

"Um, thanks?" Aang said, looking around. It seemed like he and the emotional me were just floating in air, or well, golden light to be more specific. I filed that away to think about later. _Seems that I like the color gold a lot. Who knew? Why is my emotions me so chipper? It's kind of scaring me._

"Anyway," Emotions Me went on. "Get ready, because this part's a doozy!"

"What's a doozy?" Aang asked, but then he began to yell in pain. My eyes flew open and I saw Aang curled up in a ball on the floor as Katara huddled over him, her face composed in one of horror.

"What's happening?" She asked, completely terrified.

"It's alright," I told her soothingly. "It will be over in a second."

Sure enough, Aang stopped yelling and relaxed as my memories began flooding his mind. Katara and I waited a few more tense seconds before Aang's eyes slowly cracked open.

"Aang! You're alright!" Katara grasped him tightly and he hugged her back hesitantly. My eyebrows narrowed in confusion as I took in the change. _Why did his attitude towards her change? _But when she pulled back and I saw the confusion change to wonder it finally hit me. _He's seen all of my memories, which means that he knows how the show ends. _I barely refrained myself from clapping and dancing around the room giddily like schoolgirl. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel... stronger," Aang said softly, still gazing at her with thinly veiled love in his eyes.

"That's great! So you too are connected now?" Katara said enthusiastically, but not before I caught a small sliver of jealously ripple through her aura. She blushed, signaling that she knew that she felt it and that she knew that I had seen it. I smiled to myself. _They're just too cute._

"Yup," I said, popping the 'p'."We're all good to go." We continued talking for a few more minutes, but then we were cut off by Hakoda, who was shouting, "Ship ahead!"

Katara and I exchanged glances. "That has to be the ship I told you about."

"Ship? What ship?" Aang asked, his eyebrows scrunching together.

"I'll explain later," I told him as we raced out into the hallway, or at least Katara and I did. Aang awkwardly hobbled, clutching his side as he did. "Right now, we have to find a place for you to hide while Katara and I are on deck."

"What? No! I want to be up there with you!" Aang said angrily, planting his feet firmly on the floor. As if acting by some unknown signal, together Katara and I grabbed his arms and dragged him through the passageways, with Aang saying the whole time, "No! Take me with you! I have to go up!"

"You can see and feel what's happening up there through me," I reminded him and he stopped talking.

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that. I still want to be up there though," he said stubbornly.

"Fine!" I said throwing up my hands. "But the only way you're getting up there is if you possess my body. Do you really want to be a girl, without your awesome Avatar powers?"

Aang blushed slightly before saying hurriedly, "No, I'm good. I like being a boy. Boys are awesome! Go boys!"

Katara and I laughed, but then we immediately quieted when we heard people coming down the stairwell. The three of us ducked into the nearest cabin as we peeked out through a crack. What looked like a squad of five Fire Nation guards came into view and I felt Katara breathe a sigh of relief. "It's alright guys, it's just Sokka and the others in uniform. They must have put them on when the other ship came into sight."

"Great," I said, stepping out of the cabin. "Sokka! What's the game plan?" All of the guards swiveled towards me, but not one of them moved a muscle. "Sokka?" I repeated hesitantly. I scanned their minds like Roku taught me and gasped in horror. "Fire Nation soldiers!"

"Get her!" One of them shouted and they rushed towards me. I reached for my sword, only to meet air. _What the heck? Where is it? Oh no... _I remembered setting it down on the floor when Aang and I connected, but I didn't remember picking it up. "Oh shoot." My sword was on the other side of the Fire Nation soldiers and I had to get them away from Katara and Aang somehow. _Aang! They think he's dead! Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap CRAP! What am I going to do? I guess there's only one thing I can do. _"Stay here, I'll be fine," I whispered to Katara and Aang out of the corner of my mouth. I heard Katara make a noise of protest, Aang too, before running straight towards the soldiers. This caused them to stop in surprise and I used it to my advantage. I rammed my shoulder in the lead one's chest and he went down like a sack of flour. Using my momentum, I did a side back handspring and managed to kick another one in the helmet, who went down as well. I took off running down the opposite hallway towards my sword and made it about twenty feet before the guards realized what had happened.

"What are you idiots waiting for? Capture her! How could you let her escape? Never mind, I'll do it myself." _Why does that voice sound familiar? _I turned my head slightly to see Azula, an expression of extreme rage on her face, racing after me, fire shooting from her fingertips. _Wonderful! When did the psycho princess get here? I don't remember this happening on the show!_

"Come on, come on," I muttered. "Where's that room? Aha!" I shouted gleefully and raced into the room. I had just wrapped my fingers around the hilt when I felt a malevolent force come charging into the room. I looked up to see Azula standing in the doorway, seething with rage. I gulped, but steeled myself and put on a brave face.

"Hey Azzy, long time no see," I said mockingly. "Nice prison security. It was so hard to escape, I actually broke a nail." I stuck my arm out and waved my hand at her. I stuck my lip out in a pout. "It really hurt."

"How dare you mock me in such a way!" She shouted, her face turning an ugly purple. "I was too soft on you in the prison, but now I will not hold back!" She began to shoot fire daggers at me and I bobbed and weaved through them.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" I scoffed. "Ow!" I looked down and saw a large burn on my arm and Azula cackled.

"Got you! Who got the first hit this time peasant?" With that, she began to attack again, only this time her confidence had increased tenfold. Wave after wave of fire surrounded, attacked, and burned me, until I found myself backed into a corner, burn marks coloring my whole body. My clothes were in tatters and I was about to pass out from the pain.

"Aw, can't you do better than this?" Azula cooed, her face inches from mine. "I thought that this would be more of a challenge." She created another fire dagger and plunged it into my arm. I bit my lip so hard that I tasted blood, but I was determined to not let her hear me scream.

"Enough, I'm bored with this game." Azula backed away. "Time for you to die peasant." She reached her arm back and it hit me all of a sudden:_ I'm going to die._ Azula seemed to move in slow motion as she moved her arm to strike. I closed my eyes, silently praying for my family, knowing that I was never going to see them, or my home, ever again. My life flashed before my eyes and I thought of all of the things I would never do, the things that I would never get to see. I waited the strike, the pain as the life drained from my body. I sent up one last, "I'm sorry," as I waited for death to claim me...

_THUD!_ I cracked my eyes open to see Azula sprawled spread-eagle on the floor. Katara stood behind her, a heavy jug in her hands. Aang stood guard in the doorway, leaning on it for support.

"Bri are you alright?" Katara cried, racing over to me. I didn't answer her. All I could do was stare at Azula, where a tiny river of blood was flowing out of a bump on the back of her head.

"I was going to die," I said slowly. "She would have killed me if you hadn't come along." I raised my terrified eyes to her worried ones, immense gratitude filling me. _There may be a chance that I'll see my family again!_ "Thank you so much for not listening to me!"

"Good, because I'm never listening to you in the future either," Katara said jokingly, but I could see the tension ease out of her body as the danger passed. Aang hobbled over and I crushed both of them to me. After a couple of seconds, I pulled back when I realized something. "What about the rest of the guards?"

"Aang and I took care of them," Katara said, waving her hand. "For an injured person, he can actually fight pretty well." Aang blushed scarlet, something that he seemed to be doing a lot lately. "It was nothing."

"It was something," I said seriously. "You saved my life. For that I am forever grateful." _Who knew I had a formal side? Nice!_ With that, I hugged them both tightly. When I let go, I cast a disdainful look down at Azula, whose blood was still slowly making its way across the floor. "That's what you get for trying to kill me bitch!"Katara gasped, but then began laughing hysterically. Aang and I began to laugh too and then we couldn't stop. We rolled around on the floor for a couple of minutes before finally pulling ourselves together. When I looked at Katara though, we just started cracking up again. Surviving a near-death experience made people prone to insane laughter, who knew?

We eventually stopped laughing and then, after we could stand up straight without falling over from laughter, together Katara, Aang, and I picked up Azula and dragged her over to the pile of unconscious guards in the middle of the hallway. Katara and I each then grabbed a guard, while Aang used his Airbending to bring the other up on to the deck. When we emerged, we saw everyone else littered across the deck and about twenty more guards waiting for us.

"The princess!" One of the soldiers gasped. I bit back a groan. _There's more of them? Jeez!_

"Seriously?" I whined. "I nearly died! Can I ever get a break?"

"People who save the world never get breaks," Katara said teasingly, dropping her guard with a _thud! _I heard several more _thuds! _and guessed than Aang had done the same thing. I let my guard hit the deck to and a smile crept on to my face. "Come on, let's go kick some butt." With that, the three of us, Aang and I limping slightly and moving slower than Katara, plunged into battle, easily taking out all of the guards. When we were done, we dragged them all back on to their ship, which was parked next to ours, and Katara used Waterbending to sail it away from us. Soon, the ship was out of sight and we were alone. I collapsed to the ground and moaned. "I'm so sore! I just want to sleep for a month!"

"Here," Katara said, coming over to me. "Let me heal your burns." I smiled gratefully and she bent her water out of her pouch and began healing me. Meanwhile, Aang was trying to revive our unconscious forces and had just managed to wake Sokka up. "Stay away from me, you freaky mushroom man!" He shouted, looking around wildly. We all stared at him, and he stared at the floor. "Sorry."

I laughed, causing Katara to glare sternly at me as my body shook, disturbing the healing. I hung my head sheepishly and I heard Sokka yell, "What happened to you Bri? You look like you just got barbecued!"

"Thanks Sokka," I said sarcastically. "That really makes me feel good!" I heard Sokka yell in pain and Katara chuckled under her breath, making me realize that she had slapped him with water. I almost laughed again, but one look from Katara had me lying as still as a statue.

Eventually, I was as healed as I could be by Katara and everyone else had been awakened by Aang. We all gathered in a circle and Sokka stood up.

"Alright everyone," he said, his voice demanding attention. "For everyone who doesn't know, this is Brianna Harris, Bri for short." I waved awkwardly as everyone's gazes swiveled to me. Hey, I may be an actress and being the center of attention doesn't bother me, but there are some freaky people sitting in this circle, especially the behemoth the size of a giant buffalo. _Pipsqueak, that's his name!_ "She's the girl that Katara and I rescued from the prison and I want your utmost respect for her." To my surprise everyone nodded. _What on earth did they tell these people about me?_

"Now," Sokka continued. "Somehow Azula and her minions managed to find and catch up to us. We need to get this ship moving faster. Mechanist," he motioned to a man with a monocle and flyaway hair, "that's your job. Everyone else, and the Mechanist if you want to be included, will meet in the war room in about an hour to discuss plans. Understood?" Everyone nodded and Sokka sat down. Immediately, talking broke out and discussions began about anything and everything. Watching everyone around me, I felt at peace and, strangely, like I was at home. Maybe I do belong here after all.

* * *

**Kind of a bad ending, but I didn't know what else to do and I really wanted to get this chapter published today. I hope you guys like it, even though I did have some serious Writer's Block for this chapter. I hope that I added some drama because I've noticed that stories that follow the episodes don't have a lot of drama, thus causing me to branch off on my own. I will try to update sooner, but I'm not going to be around a computer for the rest of this week and next week, so don't be mad if I don't. I will try my best to work on my phone, but stupid spellcheck makes it hard. Never fear, I will try my best, but please don't get mad if there are LOTS of spellings mistakes.**

**Read and Review!**

**P.S. If anyone sees any grammar/spelling/whatever mistakes, PM me or leave a review. Heck, send me smoke signals for all I care. I _HATE_ bad grammar and I want to make sure that there aren't any mistakes and that everyone gets what is going on. Thanks! You guys are the best readers ever! *hugs everyone enthusiastically***

**Later! Happy summer!**


	11. I'm Sorry

**Ok, I have an important announcement to make.**

**Unfortunately, I have decided to end this story. Frankly, I'm quite bored by it and I just can't find a reason anymore to type it. I feel horrible, but I just can't do it. I'm sorry if I'm disappointing any of you guys, but I'm sorry. This story will be deleted in about a week, I just wanted to let you guys know. Please don't kill me!**

**Once again, I'm so sorry!**

**NeverASingleDoubt**


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